Happy Easter

It has been a while since our last post, for that I apologize. Nothing very exciting happening and not much to share, but wanted to check in. We are celebrating Easter today in a country that doesn't recognize this holiday, but as a family we celebrated early this morning with a sunrise service at Dakar Academy. What a beautiful sight to behold - watching the sun rise and thinking of His sacrifice for us. We had an Easter celebration yesterday with an egg hunt, tug of war, egg toss and good food. We had to die eggs without the help of Paas! I had no idea how to do this, but thanks to the internet found out you just need food coloring, water and vinegar - who knew?

This past week - nothing much happened - language and life. Our only bit of excitement was that a stray cat had kittens in our yard. One was sick, so we tried to help it. Unfortunately it ended up dying and at the end of the week, and then we couldn't find the other three kittens. We are not sure if the momma took them somewhere or something came and completed the circle of life. It was not a happy ending, but it was neat for our kids to see newborn kittens.

We continue to progress in language and continue to have fun trying to use and learn as much as we can. We went out to a village on Monday and walked on the beach with all of the fishing boats coming in - it was a myriad of sights and smells. It was quite the adventure for me (Chris) - I almost got bit by a horse, run over by a horse cart, stepped on a dead cat and rat and then got into a conversation with a friendly drunk African (talk about a language barrier). For a beach and ocean lover it was hard to see the beach in this way - there are open sewers running to the ocean, trash everywhere, and goats eating trash along the water. At one point we saw a huge sea turtle that they had caught on its back - just waiting for death so they can eat it or cut it up to be sold. The matter of fact here is that it is all about survival. Whatever it takes to eat today - that is essentially what matters.

The kids continue to do well in school. They really like the school and are excited about next year and us living there. We continue to be thankful for being here in Dakar. We can't wait to show our friends and family where we live and to meet these awesome people (hint, hint). We miss you all, especially on holidays!