Down but not out

Latest family picture

The three Clermont boys

Chad's future missionaries! This year's students.

Students working the fields to help support the school.

Happy Birthday Josiah! Big #4

Hey everyone! Sorry we're so inconsistent with this blog. In between caring for all the kids, daily chores required to live here, preparing for my courses, and relying on solar power and and inconsistent internet connection, it can sometimes be difficult to get on here. So what's been happening lately at the Clermont house.

Well, to be quite honest with all of you, we've been going through a pretty hard period. In the last several weeks all of the boys, including little Levi, have come down with a staph infection that has caused them to break out in little boils all over their bodies. On top of that Josiah has had malaria and Levi has had a cold/flu that has meant some sleepless nights. Now when the kids are sick it's never fun. But when Krista or I get sick, that's when it really gets hard, as all of the workload of keeping our household running falls on one person. Well, for the past two weeks I've had some sort of malady that has kept me pretty fatigued and with a constant headache and neckache. It has culminated this past week in an extremely sore throat that has kept me from sleeping and swallowing at times. So...Krista has been mom and dad for the past week. And I am once again reminded of what a wonderful wife I have. Aside from the tiring task of caring for all three boys all day, she has nursed me along when I have been too sick or tired to do anything. I definitely wouldn't have thought of coming to a place like this without a woman like Krista by my side.

Aside from sharing with you all what a wonderful wife I have and what a wonderful mother my boys have, I also wanted to share a little bit of what we've learned over these past couple of weeks. For some of us coming from western backgrounds and cultures, we have a hard time understanding "spiritual warfare". Is it real? Is Satan really actively fighting against us, our work, and our families. Krista and I were amazed at how we had experienced basically no sickness within our first couple months here...and then, as soon as classes were ready to begin, all of a sudden four of the five of us in our house are laid out with some sort of illness. For some of you that might just be coincidence, but the longer we've been in Africa, the more we see "coincidences" like this as being a sign that we are truly in a spiritual battle. We are an unwelcome presence in a place that Satan has controlled for a long time. And as most of you know, our African friends understand this much quicker than we do. In finding out that we have been sick, their first response has never been to ask what medicine we're taking, but rather to offer up a prayer to God for our healing and for our protection against the Enemy. The encouraging thing about being in the midst of spiritual warfare is that we truly have no reason to fear. In recalling the story of Job we can see that God was fully knowledgable of what was happening to Job and He even allowed it to happen. Just as when we are being "sifted", God is there knowing our pain, fatigue, and desperateness - and He is not going to abandon us!. Ok, enough of the little sermon. I'm going to try and get some pics posted for you all of the students and their wives and maybe some family pics as well. Oh yeah, and hopefully this little discussion will spur you all to stay on your knees for us, we need it! (I start teaching tomorrow and am still feeling pretty lousy!)