The Big News!!!!

So by now the news of my engagement has reached far and wide but just in case you have not heard...I AM GETTING MARRIED! So here's the scoop...

Our story…how do I even begin to tell our story? Ours is a story of God’s provision, His kindness, His grace, and ultimately His glory. Just as God told the Israelites to remember the things He had done and to tell them to their children for generations to come, I look forward to sharing our story with our children and grandchildren someday.

God heard the heart cry of His son, Appolinaire, in Rwanda and His daughter, Valerie, in America. He saw that their hearts were fully His, committed to serving Him, loving Him completely, but still longing for someone to walk with hand in hand on this journey of life.

I (Valerie) grew up in a quaint little place called Manheim, Pennsylvania far away from the country of Congo where my dear Appolinaire was born. Though his father and mother were Rwandan, they had fled to Congo in 1959 because of political unrest in Rwanda. Appolinaire was born in the Congo and lived there until 1995. He lost his mother when he was only 17 and he father deserted the family not long after. Being the oldest, he took the responsibility for himself and his siblings’ wellbeing.

Sometimes I wonder why I was born and raised in the comfort of America while he suffered the pain of poverty and death here in Africa. But surely God was carrying out His plan for both of us though our lives were worlds apart.

After finishing high school, God lead me to Elim Bible Institute, and it was there that He revealed His call on my life to serve Him as a missionary in Rwanda. Appolinaire went to Bible School in Nairobi, Kenya and then came back to Rwanda to serve the Lord. He is an associate pastor in a Pentecostal church here in the Kigali area and he teaches classes part time at World Mission Bible School.

I first met Appolinaire in 2006, the first time I came to Rwanda. I was a part of a team from Elim that took a trip to Uganda and Rwanda. Though we were only here in Rwanda for a few days, Appolinaire took notice of me during that time. In the months that followed, we began to communicate via email and thus began an interesting and beautiful friendship. I have to admit that I was rather oblivious to his affections and interest in the beginning and it took me awhile to figure out what was going on. However, I did notice how kind and sweet he was from the very beginning of our communication.

When I returned to Rwanda in 2008, our friendship grew even more and began to develop into more than a friendship in our hearts during that time. However, I still was unsure about where the relationship was going and so I just treasured these things in my heart.

Coming back to Rwanda this time, I honestly did not know what God was going to do with our relationship, if anything. I did not expect what He did do and I certainly did not expect it so soon! I had always prayed that when the time came God would speak to me clearly about the man that He wanted me to be with. I have never been one to date casually and I had always just known that God would work things out and make the way clear to me when the time came. So, though it seems sudden to some, it is no surprise to me that God would speak to me clearly that this is the man He wants me to be united with in marriage. I cannot even begin to tell you the prayer and tears that have gone into this relationship already! I have received clarity and peace to move ahead in our relationship. I truly believe that God has called Appolinaire and I together to serve Him and expand His kingdom here in Rwanda.

So yes, I am in love but I am not in denial. I know very well that this is going to be challenging. Marriage is hard work even when you are from the same culture and Appolinaire and I have to added stress of different cultures and different ways of communicating. But I know that we are both committed to this relationship and are willing to work hard. We know the challenges will come but we are not afraid of them because we know that a cord of three strands is not easily broken.

So that is actually the short version of our story, believe it or not! We are planning to get married here in Rwanda on August 14, 2010!

Happy New Year!!!

It is hard to believe that it is really 2010! It has been a few weeks since I have written because life has been rather busy around here.

Christmas was nice though very different from what I am used to in America. Not all the hype and fuss leading up to Christmas, just simple celebrations, a few decorations, a gift or two, and “special” food. For our family, the special food consisted of hamburgers and hotdogs! Sounds funny I know but when we asked the kids what kind of special meat they wanted to eat, they quickly answered “hot dogs!” Here in Rwanda meat is pretty expensive and hot dogs are especially expensive. We don’t get to eat meat often so when we do it is a special thing for us and especially for the kids.

Much of our time on and around Christmas was spent cleaning and packing up all our belongings. We moved into our new house on the 28^th. What a day that was! Not only did we move all of our things to our new house, we moved the Remember Me Boys’ Home here to Kanombe! They are now living in our old house. So it was a long day and a lot of work but it is really nice to have the boys’ close by now.

Things have been sort of in upheaval since the move because we moved into a house that is not finished. So we moved our things temporarily into the areas of the house that are ready and are waiting for the rest to be done. The last few days have been kind of like camping! Good things I always liked camping J.

Our Precious Little Ones...

This is Laurette and Charukhan standing in a window of our house. Charukhan is the son of one of my brothers and Laurette is a new addition to our already large family. She came to us last week and though she was a bit of a surprise she is a wonderful blessing and we love her very much!

You just never know what the day will bring…

Yesterday began like most days: ice cold shower in the dark, porridge at the table with the family for breakfast, walk to the office and settle into my desk to study Kinyarwanda. Even the walk home for lunch was uneventful. Lunch was simple but delicious, potatoes and cabbage. A knock on the door after lunch was the event that brought the unexpected element into my day.

My brother, Olivier, came to the living room to inform me that Laurette and her grandmother were at the gate. Let me give you a brief background. Laurette is a precious little girl, age two and a half who was being raised by her grandmother. Her mother was raped and bore her at a very young age and is therefore unable to care for her. So the grandmother had taken on the responsibility of raising her but she is a widow herself and very very poor. Long story short, Les and Yvonne have agreed to take Laurette into our home and raise her as their own child at the request of the desperate grandmother. We had to have certain paperwork in place before this could happen so we thought that this process would take awhile.

Naturally, I thought that this day, they had probably just come for a visit and maybe to update us on the necessary paperwork. Imagine our surprise when I discovered that the grandmother’s intention was to leave Laurette with us the same day! I quickly called Yvonne who was still in the office to let her know what was happening at the house. So that settled it, we had a new little girl at our house! You just never know what the day will bring!

Of course, it was not that simple. Though Laurette is young, she is not too young to understand that she is not with her grandmother and is now surrounded by strangers. I held her tightly as she sobbed and cried for her “mama.” My heart broke as I watched this precious little one struggling to understand what was happening to her. How traumatized she must be.

To complicate things even more, we had to go to a conference in the evening so she could not even get used to the house. And she is absolutely terrified of our dogs too. The poor little thing is having such a rough time adjusting but we know that these things will take time. She clung to me and eventually fell asleep as we walked the forty five minute walk to the church where we were having the conference. It was a bit of a rough evening with lots of crying and calling for “mama.” But we made it through and today she is doing much better. The other kids (my brothers and sisters) have taken her under their wings and at this point that seems to be the only thing that helps. Though she clung to me yesterday she now seems rather terrified of us (being white) but we know that too will take some adjustment. Keep her in your prayers as she continues to adjust to life in our household. She is a precious addition to our already large family!

Two months...

I am approaching the two month mark of being in Rwanda! I am throughly enjoying life here though at times it takes some getting used to. Lately we have been without electricity and the running water comes and goes frequently. Here in Rwanda if you are renting a house and someone that rented before you has an outstanding bill for electricity or water, they can shut off your electricity until someone pays the bill. So apparently someone before us has a bill that was not paid and therefore we are living by candle light.

It really is not a big deal, it just requires some adjustment. If you want to read or study you just try to get that done before it gets dark around 6 pm. The other night I was cooking and as it was beginning to get dark I realized that I had not yet sorted the rice (you have to sort through your rice here before you cook it to take out any bad pieces or little stones). So I learned my lesson and will certainly make sure that I sort the rice before it gets dark. Sorting rice by candlelight is frustrating to say the least!

The lack of light has given us more family time though. All you can really do is sit around in the evening and enjoy each other's company. We sing and listen to the kids telling stories all while sitting in our outdoor kitchen area as someone is cooking on the charcoal stove. Sometimes it feels like camping! But, hey, I always did enjoy camping! It has been a full moon lately and so that helps give us a little more light. Life is different when you have no electricity. You have to wake up early and go to bed early to make the most of the daylight. Once again, I am reminded of the beauty of a simple life!

Eating Grasshoppers! mmmmm!!!!!

Before...

After we finished eating...only legs left!

Live grasshopper...about to become a snack!

Frying them up!

Our adventure for this morning...running all over our property catching grasshoppers, taking off their wings, frying them in a pan with salt, and enjoying a special treat with our breakfast! They were actually very delicious!

Language, language, language...

Right now my days are consumed with language study aside from the other daily activities of cooking and washing. I had thought I found the perfect language helper but unfortunately all that fell through and at the moment I am on my own. Actually, I am not really on my own at all because I am surrounded by people speaking Kinyarwanda all day long. So between help from my brothers and sisters and my own independent study of a Kinyarwanda lesson book, things are going pretty well. It is exciting to study hard and be able to see the results. I love when I can sit back and listen to my siblings laughing and telling stories and begin to recognize words and concepts. As tedious as it is, it is rewarding as well.

The language itself is quite challenging. It is a tonal language which means you can have a word that looks the same and sounds almost the same but means something completely unrelated. There are high toned words and low toned words and I cannot usually hear the difference. So I am spending much time just listening and trying to train my ear to hear the different sounds.

Turns out the other day, while trying to tell my brother’s little boy (my nephew) Charukhan to wash his hands, I instead told him to wash his banana tree! This is challenging but fun too!