Love these Trees in Gabon....

Thank goodness for a wide angle lens to be able to show you the length, and this is one of the small ones....

Daily storms...... Snapped this pic just as the storm was rolling across the forests and on towards the Nyanga river, in front of our house....

My vase holds a different wildflower every week....

A few words for 2016....

Since taking this pic of an old door at the mission station, I've felt I have to share it....I often chat to God on my daily walk (mostly complaining, a little thanking, and he often patiently and gently comforts!)

So I'm saying, now why the closed door for 2016, it should be an open one? Then I feel His thoughts, that's the closed door behind you, you have already walked through .... No more looking back, no more yearning for he past and for the "old ways"... When you let go of the past, that's when you can have a new beginning. With My strength, guiding and directing, you can do it....

"This is the way walk in it, whenever you turn to the right hand or to the left" Isaiah 30:21

"You're tied down to the mundane; I'm in touch with what is beyond your horizons. You live in terms of what you see and touch, I'm living on other terms" John 8:23

We live in a dark confusing world, but we are not without hope! Light can drive out darkness! 

Hope this encourages you as it did me... May 2016 be life changing for you all. It's really what's "inside" that counts in the end....

Blessings to you and yours with all our love from a steamy Gabon....

The beautiful beaches of Myumba, Gabon

Where the forests meet the Atlantic Ocean with a huge lagoon going all along to the Congo...

This is one of the few places where the leatherback turtles have nesting sites. They try and protect them with signs painted on the walls throughout the village. Here is a link about the turtles...leatherback turtles, Myumba

From June to September it's Oyster season, we will definitely do plenty visits then! 

There is a whale season too.

Where one of the many rivers come into the sea. Mangroves and crabs in abundance! 

We did a 2 hour walk down the beach towards the Congo border which isn't too far away, and our only company was thousands of ghost crabs....

Due to the currents on this specific beach there was quite a lot of litter. The Gabonese say it comes from Congo and the ships... They joked that this was definitely a shoe from the Congo as they are giants there!

Catholic Mission of Sainte Esprit - 1897

We had to renew my Gabon visa in the  coastal village of Myumba.  God was so organised as we had met a couple a few weeks ago, who actually lived  and worked from there!  They live in a very old mission station called the Mission of Sainte Esprit which was built in 1897.  It is perched on  a hill with a spectacular view of the interior side of the Banio Lagoon and the sea in the distance. It remains the best preserved mission of its kind in Gabon. Here are a few pics....

Out of the "self pity rut"....

It always amazes me how when I start to get into a "self pity rut", (we are alone for the Christmas season in the middle of nowhere) how God sends me a person or people to jolt me out of it and gets me counting my blessings once again! We had lunch today with a Cuban couple, both doctors who have had to leave their two children of 15 and 7 in Cuba, whilst they work in a little village in Gabon, they see them for 1 month in every 7! Encourage someone this week! Take the time to find someone who is alone for Christmas and be a blessing....

#specialsunday#newfriends#newplaces

an "elephant snout fish"........

This fish fascinates me as watched a documentary about this fish (which has a trunk just like an elephant) and discovered that we have it in the very river ( Nyanga River) in front of our house, here in Gabon.... They are apparently quite smart, just like an ellie!  This is not a great pic as taken off the net....
Here is a link....
snoutfish... Mormyridae

Golden Christmas baubles.....

I found some gorgeous "natural" Christmas ornaments to add to my collection today.....

we took the boat upstream....

as we heard we could see Chimpanzees, so grabbing my camera and plenty insect repellant off we went...  Sadly we didn't see the Chimps but will try again another time, but here are a few snaps from the huge Nyanga River.... it shows me more than ever how very isolated we are... totally uninhabited for hours.... so different to Southern Africa, where the rivers draw the people...
Nyanga River, Gabon

so much rain the moss grows on the branches...

Jb's office (with a gorgeous view) and one of the houses...

The road less travelled.........

GREENS!!!

These aren't exciting pictures at all, but for me they are pure gold.....  I live a good 12 hour drive away from a decent supermarket, where I can buy "imported from France" veggies and salads... so have begun to do a small veg garden in the flower boxes around the house... There is no soil around the house only small rocks as we are on top of a hill.  The Gabonese are huge meat and carbohydrate eaters, (meaning, cassava, rice and yams) Everything is fried in palm oil....They don't eat veg at all, it seems.  They are not healthy, and we have quite a few (young!) employees with high blood pressure and cholesterol.