Rasmussen Family Trip to the Zoo

Since I didn't get a chance to see lots of animals in Africa, Kelly was nice enough to go with me to the Portland Zoo.  Here are some fun photos and video from that day...

Ouagadougou Day 2 - Hanging Out

We had a day to hang out and get comfortable.  Our tasks on this day involved waking up in the morning and having a team devotional, wandering around the city getting supplies, and had dinner at Pastor Delma's house.  The devotional was awesome.  Getting to grow spiritually with the team was a really cool thing that I did not necessarily expect.  

This was our first day experiencing life in the city of Ouagadougou.  We were exposed to crossing the street there, which is kind of like the game "Frogger" and what Burkina Faso rain was like.  Here are a couple videos to help you see what it was like:

We were also able to go to the local sorghum storehouse and purchase 40 bags of sorghum for a local village called Zorga.  That amount of food will feed forty families of 4 for a month.  Pretty amazing what we take for granted here in the US.  Here are some pictures from that.

These guys could carry unbelievable weight on their head.

Here's a good team picture.

Later that night, the Pastor we were working with and his family had us all over for an amazing dinner.  Here are some pictures from that evening...

Ouagadougou Day 1 - Church

After about 4 hours of sleep, we hopped in our team bus that the church supplied for us and we headed to the church for Sunday morning service.  We were greeted with open arms and beautiful worship music from the congregation.  James gave a great teaching on the life of Joseph and then after the service, we were able to hang out with the kids and teach them some classic games like red light - green light and hot potato.  The kids were awesome and immediately opened up to us.  Here are some of my favorite pictures from the morning...

I sat down on a bench and started taking pictures of them and they weren't so sure about me to begin with.

But the second I started playing with them, they showed me huge smiles and more joy than I have seen in a long time.  This was one of the most amazing things.  These kids are struggling with some crazy issues: disease, hunger, thirst, and yet their joy in the Lord is huge.  I could definitely learn from them.

This little girl was one of my favorite people to photograph.  She was always soooo cute.

The little girls took to the women in our group so quickly.  It was fun to see the kids get comfortable with us almost immediately.

This was one of the families that we met.  It was great to see that there is little difference between families here and families there.  While there may be a difference in material wealth, the need to follow Jesus is definitely the same.

Later that night, after getting some rest back at the house, we went to a worship service back at the church.

By the evening, the kids were our new best friends.

The boy in the middle is deaf and he has no way of communicating as no one has taught him sign language or how to write.  He hangs out with one of the pastors at the church and is one of the sweetest kids I have ever met.

A True Friend

As many of you might know, Kelly and I have been going through some major tribulation over the last year. We have had, at the least, 4 miscarriages. The last one, we just found out, was a girl. It is an interesting time to work through the sadness and the pain with each other and with our wonderful Lord. While we are grieving much, we are also learning much. We are learning to see the Lord not so much in our circumstances but rather, in spite of our circumstances. We are learning that true love comes from sticking with one another even when all that surrounds you is grief and questioning. And we are learning the comfort that can be found in a friend who simply stands by you while you weep.

The book that has brought us the most solace is the blessed book of Job. You can tell a lot about the trials one has gone through in their reaction to Job. I have expressed my love of this book to many friends. Some have agreed with me in the comfort that can be found in it. Others have questioned that comfort or expressed their regret in the fact.

One of the most amazing things to me, however, is the response of Jobs friends. These men have spent the time to come and sit with Job for seven days and weep and mourn. And for this, they should be credited. But what comes next is the attempt to preach and teach and reform. I have done this so many times in answering the pain of those around me. And to those people, I humbly ask for your forgiveness. There are no answers that can take away the pain of loss. That's what miscarriage is, not just the loss of a life, but the loss of hopes and dreams. The loss of an innocence that can not be regained.

I have run into many of you who have asked what you can do for us, or for others that may be suffering in a similar way. That is what I wanted to share in this post. There is an awesome book on Job written by Charles (Chuck) Swindoll. His book titled, "Job" has been able to verbalize so many of the feelings I have wanted to express but been unable to.

"The late (and I might add great) Joe Bayly and his wife, Mary Lou, lost three of their children. They lost one son following surgery when he was only eighteen days old. They also lost the second boy at age five because of leukemia. They then lost a third son at eighteen years after a sledding accident, because of complications related to his hemophilia. Joe writes in a wonderful book, The View from a Herse, (which has been changed in title to The Last Thing We Talk About):

'I was sitting, torn by grief. Someone came and talked to me of God's dealings, of why it happened, of hope beyond the grave. He talked constantly, he said things I knew were true. I was unmoved, except I wished he'd go away. He finally did. Another came and sat down beside me. He didn't talk. He didn't ask leading questions. He just sat beside me for an hour and more, listened when I said something, answered briefly, prayed simply, left. I was moved. I was comforted. I hated to see him go.'"

Swindoll then concludes the chapter with this sentence, "Words have a hollow ring in a crucible."

For those of you who have simply been there for Kelly and I. You know who you are. You are the ones that have never tried to answer or fix, meddle or change, motivate or push. You have simply cared for and comforted, cried with and sympathized. You have not questioned our faith or encouraged that we have more. You have prayed without ceasing and stopped by without asking, all the while keeping your words to a minimum. You have realized that you do not know what it is like in our crucible, nor will we know what it is like in yours, but you have loved regardless. We are told in Romans 12 to "Rejoice with those that rejoice and weep with those who weep." You have done just that and we thank you. We can never fully repay you or express to you how much it means to us to know you are there. You have truly shown the love of our Lord. Thank you.

Our First Nephew!

Born Monday, September 29, 12:12 AM

10 lbs, 3 oz, 21.5 inches

Here are some photos of our sweet nephew when he was only 14 hours old :-)

From Andrew James

Traveling to Africa & Morocco

Well, I have finally gotten my pictures under control from my trip to Africa.  Because I have so many, I am just going to put a couple of my favorite pictures up from each day and then just give the link to my picasa web albums.

The first day we were supposed to take off from PDX airport really early in the morning but there was a problem with the navigation radar so we had to wait for them to replace it.  I don't know much about airplanes but I figured that was bad.

We flew through JFK and after a long flight across the Atlantic, we landed in Casablanca, Morocco.  We thought we were going to have to stay at the airport for our 14 hour layover but Mel and Ryan were able to convince Air Morocco that we needed someplace to stay.  They put us up at a hotel called Le Zenith which was very nice.  We got two free meals and while we were there, we got to go on a wild and crazy taxi cab ride.  Here is a video...

The first place we stopped was an old fortress that has been rejuvenated.  There were some beautiful pictures of it.  Here is one of my favorites.

We left the fortress and drove around the city to the Casablanca Marina.  What an awful smell.

After walking through all sorts of fish guts, we continued on to the main mosque in the city.  While it is the place of worship for a false religion, I could still appreciate the architecture. 

After a nice shower and a good meal, we got on the bus back to the airport and headed off to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

To see more pictures of our traveling to Africa and our time in Morocco, go to 

my Morocco Album.

Cottage Grove 2008

Some of our friends have given us a hard time for not updating our blog this year. Well, I figured it was time to give in to peer pressure. In preparation for all of my Africa pictures that I hope to be putting on the blog, I decided to put some of our Cottage Grove 2008 pictures on the blog. Here are a few of the fun pics...

Liam and Ashli helping Kelly unpack.

Anthony and Beckie enjoying the sun. What a great couple!

Chad and Amy hanging out with Madi Ritchie. They are a huge blessing.

We were glad to have the Welters hanging out as well. I jokingly called Jon the activities desk because of all the fun toys he bought... kayaks, bikes, golf clubs. They are a good couple to have around :o)

Chris and Liam Ritchie taking it easy in the hammock.

Jim taking it easy in his camping easy chair.

Micah taking it easy on dry land and...

taking it easy in the water.

The Welters brought a pinata for the kiddos and they had a blast. Here is Chris helping Ashli get a good swing.

What a bunch of pretty ladies :o)