ahhh the desert sand

Okay so this post is not going to be too long because I spent a couple of hours outside drinking today and the sand was blowing a lot and now my eyes are killing me. Okay so I was drinking "ataya" which is a strong tea drink the people here in Senegal drink. It is yummy but is more of a social drink. You sit around and chat while the person serving makes the tea. So today Spencer and I drank ataya with Cheick and his wife Charlotte... oyeah and a couple of other guys . This process takes about 2 hours. The kids had fun running around on the street until they got cold and then went inside and watched Fat Albert. Yes I said cold. It gets pretty chilly here at night. Abby just got a jacket for her birthday so she was happy to get it out. It is her blue hoody.

Today is Friday so it is the day we feed some of the neighborhood kids. I say some because there are SO many and there is no way we can feed all of them at one time. Today we had 22 kids and most of them were about 3 years old. They were very cute and didn't know what to think of it all. They just kinda look at you like who are you and why are you giving me food. They ate all the food and left happy. Luke and Abby want to eat with them so bad. They really enjoy going through the neighborhood with Cheick to gather the kids for lunch. Luke makes sure they wash their hands and know where to sit and Abby is usually right behind him doing what he does. It is really funny.
Cheick wife is in town so she came over to help Sophia with cooking the food. I think she had a good time too. Plus she gets a free good meal and a little extra money.

Okay I really am tired and my eyes need to be rubbed. I will try to blog tomorrow.
I love all yall and remember... if you work for the church of the nazarene and you have the Cumberland people do your taxes... your organizers are due TODAY!
april

living water

Okay when was the last time your water went out or your electricity went out. When we lived in the states I remember getting really frustrated if the electricity was out for more than an hour. I didn't even have to call the electricity company because I just knew that a million of other people had already called and complained. What if your water went out? If that was to happen in the states I am sure somone would find a reason to sue the water company. Can you imagine living with out these things. Can you imagine not having a way to cook your food other than wood or maybe over a little gas stove. The people in the village called Bad live like you and I have never seen. I don't think we can truly grasp what it would be like to live without our necessities. To live without airconditioning in 110 degree weather or to live without chips and salsa. Okay I just had to put that in there.
The village people seemed to be normal. They look normal. I wonder what they are thinking when we pull up in our nice vehicles and when the offering for the Sunday morning service is a lot. I often wonder why I am blessed with so much and so many people here are so poor. They are just living for the day... surviving the day. I know that I am blessed and most of the people I know are blessed. God has been so good to me and my family. So how am I suppose to feel after leaving these people. It is kinda... well... I guess convicting in a way. Not that I should live like them but maybe I have not truly realized how blessed I am.
The Baptism was pretty cool. Well that is what they say... Abby threw up right before that was to happen and so I had to sit with her in the shade.
The pond that the people have there for the Baptism was not there a year ago. The rains came and the water stayed. The people there feel so blessed to have water in their village. Can you imagine using the water from the pond for your everyday use. I can't but they are feeling blessed because of it.
After being here in Senegal some of the Bible stories become so real in my mind. I can imagine the woman getting water from the well... during our long drive to the village there were wells. People getting water from it while being surrounded by nothing. No stores and hardly anyone around. These people walk miles with no shoes and the place their water on their heads and walk back home. I wonder how many people do not know about the living water. I wonder if they have seen Jesus in anyone. If someone has asked them to drink from the living water that Christ is offering. I want to be more evangelistic. I want to be able to speak every language so I can chat with the wolof people, the pular people, the serer people, noon people, french people, jola people, mandinkea people and the other 29 people groups here in Senegal. Can you imagaine being able to communicate with everyone we come in contact with. I am sure Jesus had no problem with this.
Okay so I am still a little tired from yesterday but have a lot too say. Sorry if this blog was a little choppy. I am goona sleep soon : )
I love all yall and remember... egg plant and carrots make a great pizza toppings
april

spilled frosted flakes and yummy turkey nuggets

so my day started with frosted flakes being spilled on the floor. too bad they are just about $9 a box... on a good exchange rate day. actually not too much spilled out just about a bowl full. and no it was not me... it was Luke and he cried for a while about it. actually he cried a lot this morning.. he said he was tired but not tired enough to go back to bed. So after he sucked it up he ate a bowl of cereal and a glass of milk. Abby ate a poptart. Just 2 packages left of those.
after breakfast we got dressed and headed out to the Eby's and Louw's for some fellowship and prayer. Before we left for accross town we went to the grocery store to pick up some butter that the Louw's wanted and some beef for Sophia for the yassa we had for lunch. we also picked up a new picture frame for Luke's artwork at the store. I had bought one ealier and when I got home I realized that the porter who loaded my groceries in the car cracked it. Luckly they gave us a new one.
After we hung out at the Louw's for about 2 hours we headed home so we could feed the kids that have been coming over and for Spencer to go and work with a young guy with his English. I think there were about 15 kids today. Before the kids came over Cheick, Luke and Abby went walking to find them. They had a good time. They love to walk in the neighborhood. It was so cute seeing all the kids coming running from around the corner. They had a good meal and were happy. It is hard to communicate with them because they do not speak French or Wolof. Not that I speak wolof :)
After lunch the kids layed down for a nap. Luke has really started to grow out of naps but I reminded him of how tired he was. Abby ran and got her pj's on before I told her it was time. She love her naps... just like her mamma!
The other day the grocery store had turkey breasts. They were huge. So I asked for one and turns out I used that one for 2 different meals. Yesterday was turkey and rice casserole and tonight was turkey nuggets. The nuggets were soooo yummy. We also had quesidillas, chips and salsa and cheese dip, french fries and some yummy corn on the cob. Abby thought our meal was cool food. They ate a lot of food tonight. Got to love Fridays! The kids made tents out of balnkets in the living room while Spencer played the guitar. It was a good night.
Now the kids are in bed and we are chillin on the couch. Our couch that needs new cusions.
Okay I am hoping our internet is fast enought for some American Idle tonight. gotta love the internet.
Okay I love you guys and always remember... Modays are when the clearence things at Target get marked down even more.

april

Darth Vader on wheels and a petit chat

Today the kids dressed up for Mardi Gras. Didn't know until yesterday about the costume party but luckily they had things to wear. As you can see Luke is Darth Vader on wheels (he wore his Heley's) and Abby was a cat. For some reason she didn't want pictures of her taken this morning so this is all we got : )
Abby woke up this morning with money under her pillow. The tooth fairy remembered.. thank goodness because she was so excited and ran really fast when she remembered she forgot to look under her pillow. It was a nice crisp bill... Luke said... Abby from now on you will get dirty bills. Ha - his must have been dirtier than hers.
This morning on our way to school the President of Senegal (well we think) drove by. Ofcourse there were tons of military around and they were pretending to control traffic. For some reason when the police direct traffic it is worse. The traffic goes faster when you can just drive when and how you want. O-well. We did notice today that they police or military... who ever they are... had helmets on. It looked like riot gear. Who knows... sometimes you just get so used to things that maybe they always wear it and I am just noticing it.
The church where I grew up confirmed us speaking there this summer. It is HPN in Lakeland and will be on July 1st... which is a Wednesday night. Our time is really filling up this summer. I am sure we will have a great time but will probably look forward to resting in Rwanda after it is all over.
Today I need to go to the grocery store and the market for veggies. The Casino (which is the name of the supermarket) has these supersavor cards and you can get 5% off your total bill on Wednesdays. I need cheese, bread, meat and ofcourse some chips. I really hope they have tortillias.
Starting tomorrow the kids are out of school until March 2nd. Abby's birthday. Wow I can't believe she is turning 5. She is soooo ready to be 5.
Okay all for now I need to run some errands.
I love all of you and always remember... shake with your right hand in Senegal... it is rude to shake with your left.

april

Yalla Baxna... or however you spell it!

Patience my child... haha I am really learning that word. I am now waiting for almost 1 1/2 for the moving company to come and check out our things. When Spencer called he said he would be here at 10:45 which really means 11:45 which means about 2 hours and 45 minutes late. There are hardly any time oriented people here. I just don't get it. Yesterday we started hurch about 30 minutes late. People would get fired if they did this in the States. I am still learning to relax if we are running late. I just can't do it. I WANT to be ontime and think everyone else should be. Don't you?
Spencer and I ran our morning run and my shins are very sore. I am in need of some good running shoes. I am hoping to maybe get some this summer in the states....that's if all the stores aren't closed by then. Just kidding...just a little bad economy joke.
Yesterday we a good day at church. I usually teach the smaller kids but I was having stomach issues this weekend and didn't want to give anything away..you know viruses or anything. But i ended up holding a little girl through the whole service anyways... which I loved because she is soooo cute. I think I am going to steal her. I told her parents but they don't think I am serious. He,he!
I am soooo thankful that the kids like going to school. They really look forward to seeing their friends and teachers. This morning i fried the kids some eggs, fried some spam like stuff and sliced up bannanas. They like it... Our guard did too i guess.
I think Sophia is going to throw out one of Abby's toys. Haha - everytime she moves it it makes noices and doesn't stop for about 3 minutes. I may just give it to her as a goodbye gift ..Ha just kidding.
Next week the kids are out of school for a week break. Yep another break! We are going to try to head down to a couple of the villages to visit some of our churches. It will be fun and I am not going to tell the kids until we actually get in the car. They drive me crazy when we are about to do something fun.
Sunday I am headed to a village called Fissels. The ladies of the church here in Dakar are going to go spend some time with the ladies there. I will tell you how it goes afterwards.
Okay off to the shower... like you really need to know that.
I love all of you and remember... always clean out your flour shifter before using it (It was so sad to throw out all the yummy powdered sugar b/c of the bugs in the shifter...boohoo)
April

above picture - kids getting ready for their puppet show

ouch my shins hurt

A couple of days ago I found some yummy cream cheese with pepper and red berries. It is so yummy. I eat it on the french baguette bread and am trying to make it last because it was about $7 for a small little bowl. It was worth it!
Okay Spencer and I have started running/walking. It is kicking my boodie. The first mile is up hill and it is very steep. Down hill is still hard but at least it is down hill. I have told Spencer that i am going to take a taxi up the hill :) I am enjoying exercising. I am trying to get really small so when we come back to the states I can eat EVERYTHING. I am telling ya, i am sooo looking forward to some good food. Not that I don't like the food here we are just limited on the ingredents here. Alothough we had corn on the cobb yesterday for dinner. Yuummy!
We are so ready to head to Rwanda. We are looking forward to meeting new friends and feeling settled once again. The kids really don't care... they are just enjoying life. I do keep telling them that we have lots of grass in our new yard in Rwanda. We also have a basketball goal that I am looking forward to.
Okay so I went the other day to look for a hari dryer. I was finally giving in and was going to buy one. So I got there and protested once again. I am NOT going to pay $40 for a cheap hairdryer. Spencer is going to Kenya in April so I am going to have him look for one there.
Oyeah yesterday we got a package. It had a cool cd, candy and some power bars in it. Kim Wilson from God's Share program is so good at sending packages. They are an awesome ministry.
Okay bye for now.
I love you all and remember... walking backwards helps when you have shin splints.

kids next door

On Fridays we are feeding some of the kids in the neighborhood. It went really well last week. There were 12 kids and most were under the age of 5. These kids are usually running around the neighborhood during the day. It is very common to see a 2 year old by himself playing. I think the older kids are suppose to be watching them. But... they are not too much older because if they were old enough to work they would be. Anyways so Sophia cooked a traditional dish and Cheick helped gather the kids up, wash their hands and then he cleaned up afterward.
The kids sat around one big bowl of food and they ate with their hands. Sophia and Cheick both said that it was alot of food for the kids BUT they ate all the rice and fish. Not sure how it ended up in the end but most of them kept the veggies to the side. Kids will be kids. It was funny because with the really little kids I couldn't tell if they were scared or happy to come in the wall. I am very different to them.
Okay so we had the kids come in the wall of our house. Cheick didn't want to send the food with them becuasae he was afraid they wouldn't get all of it. The older kids or the adults would take their share and we were not doing this for them. I really wanted to take a picture but chose to wait. Maybe next Friday.
When they were finished with their lunch they were so happy. They all had smiles on their faces and start to bless me with some sort of blessing chant. It was very cute.

So that was last week. Today I found strawberries and corn on the cobb. I fixed beef stew for dinner and I am now watching Spencer and Luke play on the wii. Luke is really good at bowling. Abby really likes to play but she gets frustrated and quits. Luke doesn't like it when she plays.
Luke is really starting to speak French. He is doing so good at school and we are sorta sad that he will be going to an English speaking school in Kigali. Anyways... C'est la vie!

Abbys birthday is soon. We are going to have a party for her and she is so excited. She wants an all girl party but that means not inviting some boys in her class that would be really sad so... boys are coming, she just doesn't know it yet.
We went to a birthday party for a boy in her class this past weekend and it was waaayy long. 3 hours! O-yeah so since when does the birthday child give gifts to their friends when they leave? The presents my kids got for coming to the party was better than the gift we brought to the birthday boy. Opps.. So we sang happy birthday in 3 different languages. French, English and .... I couldn't tell you. Maybe Arabic?? Who knows. There are so many different nationalities in their classes I can't keep up. Oyeah another thing about the parties here. People have hired clowns to give the party. Crazy! This past one had a table FULL of food and candy. The table looked like it came out of the charlie and the choclate factory movie. There was candy everywhere and luke felt sick on the way home. They also had lots of juice and cokes... man my kids had a blast.
So i am trying to think of something creative for abby's party. ofcourse i will be hosting it myself...

O-yeah luke went on another field trip last week. he had a great time and his mamma didn't go :)
today we went to our assisoiate pastors house for a bit. it was fun and we love spending time with them. Rita had a birthday so we took her some crab salad that she loves. I love her youngest daughter... she is soooo cute
okay i need to get the kids to bed via the bath. Abby spilt bubbles on her today. what a mess!

Okay thanks for listening and remember... life is too short... go eat some laffy taffy for me :)

April - ps the picture is of the kids near a cliff that is close to our house. Spencer and I actually ran/walk in this area M-F. It is really beautiful.

Sheep or Goat?

Matthew

31-33"When he finally arrives, blazing in beauty and all his angels with him, the Son of Man will take his place on his glorious throne. Then all the nations will be arranged before him and he will sort the people out, much as a shepherd sorts out sheep and goats, putting sheep to his right and goats to his left.

34-36"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what's coming to you in this kingdom. It's been ready for you since the world's foundation. And here's why:

I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.'

37-40"Then those 'sheep' are going to say, 'Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?' Then the King will say, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.'

41-43"Then he will turn to the 'goats,' the ones on his left, and say, 'Get out, worthless goats! You're good for nothing but the fires of hell. And why? Because—

I was hungry and you gave me no meal,
I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
I was homeless and you gave me no bed,
I was shivering and you gave me no clothes,
Sick and in prison, and you never visited.'

44"Then those 'goats' are going to say, 'Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or homeless or shivering or sick or in prison and didn't help?'

45"He will answer them, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me—you failed to do it to me.'

46"Then those 'goats' will be herded to their eternal doom, but the 'sheep' to their eternal reward."

I wonder what it is going to be like. You know when we stand before our Father and he either lets us in or he says he doesn't know us. As we are faced with the economy becoming so bad in America and of course with all the poverty here in Africa, what are we doing to represent our Father. Are we blessing others as we are being blessed or are we giving others our leftovers? I hope I find favor with our Father as I stand before him. So how do we bless others? I don't have all the answers I just know that the scripture gives us a huge task. It says we are suppose to help the hungry, thirsty, and homeless.
What if just giving the Word of God was enough. Are you at least doing that. Am I at least doing that. I hope this blog doesn't discourage you... I hope it encourages you to reach out. Be Jesus today to someone today!
Okay anyways I love all of you and remember.... everyone has suffered...everyone has hard times... it is how you come out of it that matters... do you still love people... do you still give God all the glory in the middle of the suffering.

april