The Dunes

The mountain in the background is the one we slid down

This was the owner of the camels - he had so much character!

Christmas Day pictures

Zach sewed these elephants for Faith with the help of a teacher! They turned out great!

You can't tell, but I had an afro wig on - the kids cracked up when they got up!

A new addition to our stockings this year - fireworks!

Photos of our Christmas Celebrations

Here are some pictures of the kids in their Christmas pageants. Faith was the narrator in her play and the boys played handbells and sang.

We had a great day on Christmas - no tears or sadness. We had lots of fun opening gifts and talking with family and spending time with friends. We went to a place in the desert with huge sand dunes. We went sand sledding - it was awesome. Pictures up next! Thanks for your prayers for our family. We hope that your Christmas was filled with the love of Christ!

Christmas

This is our second Christmas since being in Africa. Our first Christmas was in Mali. It was a hard one - without a tree, our own directions and family, and Ron dealing with kidney stones. This Christmas has been easier with our own decorations and a tree and stockings and all the trimmings. The biggest thing missing is family and friends. This is the hardest thing about being a missionary and being away from home. We normally head back to Maryland for Christmas.

We miss going to church with our church family on Christmas Eve and then celebrating with Ron's family and then going to my sister's house and relaxing with my sister, her family and my Mom. We miss waking up and celebrating with the gift frenzy. We miss the big family dinner. We miss opening Christmas Eve stockings with all of the kids from my parents. Although this is exactly where we are supposed to be, this is the hardest part of being here. It is only one day a year, but we love celebrating it with those near and dear to us. We miss spending time with our dear friends the Uhrins and the Murrays. We don't miss the commercialism of Christmas, but miss all of the hoopla of being with friends and family.

We are making new traditions and celebrating with new "family" and it is good. It is hard to get used to wearing shorts on Christmas, but it was fun going to the beach yesterday and the kids playing in the ocean! We went caroling by horse cart through the village, singing Christmas carols in Wolof and English. We will wake up Christmas morning with our usual breakfast casserole and then off to dinner with our dorm staff family. Later that night we will eat again with our supervisor and his family. We will then come home and watch a movie that we have gotten for Christmas.

We do love being here, but know that you are missed. Faith shared today, "I can't wait for Christmas, but I also don't want it to come because we won't be with our family". It is a happy time celebrating our Savior's birth, but if you think about it could you say a prayer for the sadness of not being with our friends and family to not be so great.

We love you all very much and wish you the Merriest Christmas.

Much needed break

We are officially on break, all of our kids are gone and the dorm is almost quiet. We have our national workers here until tomorrow and then we will officially free. We are very much looking forward to just hanging out and reconnecting and relaxing together. We have a few plans over the break - we are going caroling on horseback in some villages. After Christmas we are going camping in the desert with Moroccan tents, camels and sand surfing. We are also going to be showing the Jesus film in our supervisors neighborhood to the guards in that area. Although is the hardest time of year for us and our kids, it is a fun time for our family to make new memories and experience different things as we celebrate our Saviors birth. We pray that you will experience Him in a new way this Christmas season!

Thanks!

Thanks to the Mills Family for our first Christmas card and picture. Your note meant a lot to us - thank you for your encouraging words!

Life continues..

We have been busy here with school and dorm life. Zach, Luke and Chris participated in Turkey Bowl - a flag football competition the day before Thanksgiving. We had a good day. I was very sore for many days - this old gal isn't used to running around chasing a bunch of young girls! But I had a great time. Zach's team won the middle school division, and let's just say the staff team played! It was soooo hot and dusty. The staff team was mostly just gasping for air and desperately seeking water to quench our dry mouths! We won 1 game and we didn't embarrass ourselves - which is always a plus. We had a nice Thanksgiving with turkey and ham. We celebrated with our mission. Zach helped with music.

We have a week left of school before break. Everyone is ready for a break. We will have some down time before Christmas to just reconnect as a family and just relax. We are looking very forward to that! The kids will get quickly bored without all of their friends, but are looking forward to just relaxing too. Senegal is getting into the Christmas spirit - everywhere we looked yesterday on our drive downtown, we saw cheesy trees and gaudy garland. It seems Muslims get caught up in the bling of Christmas. Lights, garland, tinsel, blow up Santas, party hats, and cheap toys are abounding everywhere you drive. Here you can drive and shop at the same time. I haven't yet bought a Christmas tree from my window, but I am tempted.

The kids have finals Monday - Wednesday and then they start tricking out to go home. All of our guys will be headed home by Friday. It will be so quiet around here, that is for sure. I know that I will miss these big lugs!!

Christmas Cards

We would love to hear from you this Christmas! A card takes about 2 weeks to get to us. Could you please send us a Christmas card and we would especially love it if you could include a picture. Our address is on the left of the blog - it is easy! Please give us a little touch from home this season! Thanks!

Nothing exciting happening

Wanted to post that we are still alive here in Senegal. We had some down time with my Mom and sister leaving, but are now back in the swing of things. Zach has started playing intermediate volleball and Ron is assistant coach. Faith is the narrator in the kids Christmas pageant. We are busy with the dorm guys and planning for Thanksgiving and Christmas. The dorm guys leave around the 16th of December and leave until the 8th of January. So we are looking forward to a nice break of just relaxing. We have a flag football tournament coming up called Turkey Bowl - that should be awesome. So, nothing exciting, but know that we miss you and appreciate your prayers for us!

Family Visit

Here are some pictures from the time that my Mom and Sister came to visit.  They had a good time, despite the heat.  We showed them the sights, gave them African names (Aiwa and Daba). They bartered, walked and generally experienced Africa.  My Mom struggled with the "throng of humanity" - just the fact that there are so many people on the roads/streets all of the time.  Any time you are on the street, there are people walking about.  When they arrived, we headed off for some fun to the resort area Saly.  We stayed at a nice hotel and just relaxed, swam and ate fancy French food.  They experienced the French with their itty bitty bathing suits - both guys and girls!  We went to Bandia game park and saw a few animals.  The park had lots of grass so a lot of the animals were hidden.  But we got up close and personal with the rhino and giraffe.  We actually got out of the truck and walked near them.  They experienced some time at the school as well - they ate with the guys in the dorm, went to Faith's class, watched Zach's soccer game and watched him practice his trumpet at band practice.  All in all, I think they had a great visit.  We will miss them very much!

Family Visit