Show Libby the love!

Libby would love to hear from you. Internet access there has been pretty spotty lately and even when it's good she can't do much because of the expense. She can't download pictures or look at pictures on Facebook.

So, some ideas would be to send a big flat rate envelope full of letters and pictures on cd or hard copies. There are flat rate boxes you can get from the post office. I just sent a large one with a weight limit of about 20 pounds I think and it cost $54. So if several of you want to get together and send one box that might be more cost effective.

She would love getting ANYTHING. She's feeling a bit homesick these days.

Address letters and packages to : Steve Flude / BP 1248 / N'djamena Tchad / AFRICA - mark packages and letters with "To Libby" on the back or bottom or side...

Thank you all in advance :-)

Laura

Life in Africa with the Fludes

Libby asked me to post some more pictures for you all so here they are. She's enjoying her time there and doing well. She also said she would add an update soon -

Beautiful Chadian sunset


Tawnee Dawn


Gracey and Libby


Libby and Emma



Libby and Keturah


Libby and Liddy - not sure about that face Liddy Joy is making!


Gracey and Liddy Joy


Libby and Payton - looks like Libby's model pose!


Libby and Liddy, must be raining but I love this picture of them both

Thank you all for your continued prayers for Libby and the Fludes, have a great day!
Mama D :-)

More pictures

Payton pushing Libby and Gracey off the porch...

Sparkly girls, Libby, Emma and Gracey

Liddy and Libby

Hudson and Keturah

Hudson and Payton

Incredible how they are able to carry things on their heads like that...

Gracey with some of the neighbor children

Mrs. Flude and a neighbor lady

Family Life

I had to put this movie star photo of Mrs. Flude in -



Libby, Gracey and Esther


Emma and Lib

Lib, Gracey and Liddy


Lib, Emma and Gracey




Libby, Gracey and some neighbor children



Libby and Gracey
Libby, barefoot in the yard... I hope there are no snakes around!!

Videos

Libby and Gracey mud wrestling...


View from the roof...



Lightning storm... (dark, but keep watching)




Hedgehog...

More neighbors

In Chad

These pictures speak for themselves. I guess they have to since she isn't here to tell me anything about them!

First pictures from Libby

These are from her layover in Paris before she got to Chad and some of the group she traveled with.

What a mess!

Hey everyone, just thought I'd drop an update of my day to you all. Well, today Grace, Mrs Flude, Emma and I were at the neighbors house visiting and drinking some Madedee (a Chadian milet drink) for a couple hours. After a while of sitting in the hot dry sun, we decided it was time to take off.
Before going inside the house we wanted to go say hi to an elder neighbor lady across the street. As we came up to her hut, we all heard yelling and turned to see two young boys (around 13 or 14) stuck in the mud beating thier horse trying to get a huge wagon of bricks unstuck! After a long while of whipping and beating the horse nearly to the point where it was about to buckle, they decided to start throwing bricks at the poor animal! Grace Mrs Flude and I were absolutely horrified and there was no way we were going to just stand there and watch. SO Grace and I decided it was time to step in.
Whitnessing all the neighbors just standing around laughing at the two boys, not even helping them we'd had enough. As Grace ran home fast to grab Payton, I kicked my shoes off and headed over to where the boys were. As soon as I started slipping and sloshing through the mud the entire neighborhood and all the Chadians standing around started clapping and roaring with laughter, and a croud gathered to watch. They couldnt believe what they were seeing! I didn't care. They eventually stopped laughing when they saw I didn't care at all.
Soon after I reached the boys Grace came running over to help and we started yelling at the boys to stop hitting the horse because it had finally colapsed. The looks on thier faces were absolutely priceless. They had just been publically humiliated by two white American girls in front of everyone lol. They immediatly stopped.
A couple minutes later all the little Chadian children also started pitching in to help to get the horse out of the mud, while the older kids were yelling at us to stop helping and that it was bad. We didn't care. The horse finally got out, and after about fifteen minutes of repliling bricks back on the wagon, the job was finished. While one of the boys road off to take the horse home, the other just kept saying thank you over and over again.
Covered in mud, Grace and I went to quickly take a shower. We didn't want worms. Even though it was a smelly mess, it was well worth it. Praise the Lord for his prompting spirit=)









Oh and by the way, thank you mom for redoing this blog page for me! Love you lots=)

-Libby Derouin.

I't been too long!

Hey everyone, I'm so sorry it has taken me so long to give you all another update! I don't have much time to write, so I'll just say a few things. Things here have been great for me. Over the past few weeks alot has happend but I don't have enough credit to give you the whole sha-bang (I really want to though). First off, my Camarounian visa application was excepted and I finally got that out of the way. Next, the Flude fam and I will soon be starting an Arabic language learning class which I'm insanely stoked for! They will have a teacher come to the house four days a week and teach us little by little.
Life outside with the neighbors has also been great, another interesting thing I've learned is that the young girls like to take their tarha's (head coverings) and rub the rough edges against thier forheads until it bleeds, then they pick away the scabs until it leaves a scar. They believe it's a symbol of beauty. I think it's kind of sad. Also, the other day Mrs Flude Grace and I were out visiting with one of the neighbor ladies and while we were sitting down I noticed she was feeding all the kids this gross looking rice stuff and I thought to myself, "pleas don't offer us any...Oh my word" And sure enough she hands over us a big bowl of what they call Esh...It's an honor for them to share with us so we, being polite neighbors have to eat it. It was rice with goat sauce and braided goat guts. I'm not even joking. It wasn't until after I put a bite of rice in my mouth and started chewin down on bones and sand that I found out what the meat was. I wasn't able to stomach it, so I gagged quietly inside my cup. I decided I was finished. So I told them I was full lol! That was by far my most enjoyable food experience here so far.
I'm out of time though, I have so much more to write about, but I will have to do that another time, hopefully sooner. Thank you all for your prayers and support it means so much to me. I'm doing very well and so is the family. Hope all is well up there with everyone too! Love you all and miss you guys. Bye=)




-Libby.

Camel riding?

I just had to post this picture here in case anyone checks this that doesn't have mine or her facebook.

She said that the camels were really gross and kept making disgusting gurgling sounds.

Hello everyone!

Hey guys, just wanted to send an update on everything and how I'm doing. I had a safe and smoothe plane ride down here however, the SeaTac airport was way more confusing than the French one...If you can believe that ha ha. But all was fine, thank the Lord.
The weather here is so incredibly hot, but I've done a pretty decent job adjusting to it I think. I got to experience my first African storm which I thought wasn't all too nice. There was a lot of lightning and some thunder, but mostly loud pouring rain. The neighbors here are so generous and always have a smile on thier faces. Its so sad to see the conditions they have to live in everyday. So far, I think thats the hardest thing for me to deal with down here. It's also pretty hard getting used to putting a tarha on everytime I leave the compound, which is a head covering if thats not familiar to some of you.
Also, the traffic and roads here are unbelievable. Apparently theres no such thing as traffic laws. Anything and everything illegal to do on a road in America, Chadians do it, only speeding as fast as they please. I don't think I'll be driving anytime soon...Or ever. This is one of those things someone has to personally experience in order to fully understand how terrifying it actually is lol.
I really appreciate everyones support and prayers for me so much. I would not have been able to make it down here without it. Thank you all for the money too, that was a huge help to me. I hope all is well with everyone up there. Miss you and love you all,


-Libby.


Oh and if anyone has any questions about anything please email me, Libby_rose2@hotmail.com and I also have a facebook. That's the easiest way to get ahold of me.

Libby arrived safe andsound!

Libby arrived safe and sound in N'djamena Tchad yesterday afternoon our time. She was very tired from the flights but very excited to be there. She was able to get out of the Paris airport with the group she met there and do a little sight seeing. She saw the Eiffel Tower, was able to go inside Notre Dame and took some pictures outside.

I was only able to talk to her a few minutes but she said she was HOT! I checked online today and it's only 84 at 10 pm their time. But very high humidity. And it WILL get hotter.

If you want to write to Libby, you need to address it to the missionaries she is staying with and then put her name on the back.

Steve and Janice Flude
BP 1248
N'djamena Tchad
AFRICA

Packages may or may not get to her but I believe letters do, they may just take a really long time.

Thank you for keeping her in your prayers!
Laura

Three more days!!

Libby has only 3 more days here and then it's off to AFRICA!!!

She's packing, cleaning out her room for her brother, working at JC Penney's one more day (today) and ticcing like mad from excitement!!

I'm baking like crazy so a lot of you better come over and help us send her off. :-) Sunday night (28th) 7:00 pm here - 310 Manito Drive.

A couple things to add to her list (things the Fludes have requested except the slippers)

gum
cheesits
gold fish crackers
Swedish fish
slippers (womens size 10)
note books

Thanks!! See you tomorrow night
Laura

Our lovely Libby is going to Africa!

Our lovely daughter Libby is going to Africa in 11 days!

She will be living with our dear friends the Fludes who are missionaries there. Libby will be helping homeschool the younger of their 10 children and helping Mrs. Flude with all the work that is involved with taking care of the family.

Some of you have asked if Libby needs anything or if there is anyway you can help. Here is a list of items she still needs. Keep in mind, she will be there for a year:

Chap stick
Good lotion for dry feet
Gold Bond powder (apparently helps prevent heat rash)
Big bottle of Ibuprofen
Flip Flops - size 10 :-)
Bandannas
Candy, cookies, packaged American junk food ;-)
PRAYER
money...

I may be adding to this list in the coming days. The Fludes are working on list of things she's going to need so I'll probably have more ideas when I get that.

If you feel led to donate any of the items on the list, let me know and I will send you our address or you can drop anything by.

We will be having a dessert/prayer send off for her on Sunday the 28th at 7:00 pm here. All are invited! Feel free to bring things for the Fludes as she is allowed to have two 50 pound suitcases to take on the plane. She will be glad to deliver goodies and/or notes to them as well!

Gods blessings on you all!
Laura

Hey everyone, I just thought since I haven't done a blog in a while I might just drop in and do so. Hm, the hardest thing about writing a blog is what to say...I should have quite a bit to talk about but since I have no life it makes it a wee bit difficult. Well, work is fine, they are cutting back my hours because of the darn economy, I don't understand why people don't want to shop at JCPenny's every day of their life. I'm STILL saving for a car, I should have one by April and I'm super stoked about that! No more ugly suburban=) I meant that in the nicest possible way of course. I'm not going to school this quarter because for me its either school or work. I'ts extreamely difficult for me to manage both. Ummm Lucy's getting bigger and becoming a riot...Lol. She has this new thing where she likes to go into my room, grab my underwear and bring it out to the family to show the treasure she found. Yesterday my momma texted me saying she got into my room again and of course grabbed another one of my unmentionable's and left it laying on the family room floor. My family didnt touch it and left it there all morning for me to take care of when I got home. I was not too happy. Anyways, I'm still looking into a mission trip to Africa soon. I have a strong feeling thats where God's directing me to go. Well, I really have nothing more to say so I'll leave it at that. I love you all and miss the Flude fam very much. Have a Happy Valentines day everyone!





P.S I thought I'd upload a picture my friend Alisha took yesterday, we had fun with it and photoshopped the lighting and blurred the background, it turned out pretty rad actually=)






Love you all, Libby<3

lucy

We got Lucy for Christmas, she is a pug mixed with a pocket-puggle(pug/beagle)