Ants In My Pants!

There are so many new things we are having to get used to.  Some more common things are drawing water for drinking, washing, cooking, pretty much anything you would need water, having not a lot of electricity, being dirty and hot all the time.  What I didn't think about having to deal with is ants in our pants.  I grew up with that saying meaning you couldn't sit still.  Here, it literally means ants are in your pants and biting you! Several of us have encountered this, and there is definitely some dancing around that goes on.  Isaiah got ants in his pants and he starts dancing around and screaming and of course all the children that had been playing in our yard with the kids come running.  I realize that he has ants in his pants and the local children start motioning for us to take his clothes off...so off with his clothes.  Somebody then throws water on him and all the ants are gone.  Isaiah is then left with about 20 bits all over his bottom and waste.  Thinking back to it now, I am laughing with how hilarious it was, but in the moment I was not seeing the humor in the situation.  We have named the ants, killer ants.

Something else that I never thought I would see is my husband walking hand in hand with another man.  We were walking to someone's compound (house) for lunch when I looked back and there was Michael walking with his friend, hand in hand, fingers interlocked.  In this culture, that is how you walk with your friend, it's a show of friendship.

Since it is the rainy season right now, there are bugs everywhere.  We like to get everyone showered before it gets dark because once its dark, the bugs come out in massive numbers.  I was showering, which involves pouring water on your head from a bucket, when all of a sudden there was something munching on my back.  I started yelping and of course that is heard throughout the 'neighborhood'.  Our kids started yelling, mommy mommy are you okay?! Michael comes to the door and I'm begging him to get it off of me.  Michael laughs hysterically and tells me there is nothing on my back.  I, however, was convinced it was still having supper on my back.  It left me with just a tiny little red spot.

There are so many different experiences we are having, some good and some not so good, but we are so thankful that we get to have this experience.  I will leave you with what blessed us yesterday.

We were coming to Ziguinchor, Senegal and needed to pick up transport in a little city named Sao Domingos.  What we didn't think about is that it was market day, which means transports are constantly going and they get filled quite quickly.  We wanted a specific transport that is called a sept plas, it is a car that holds seven people plus the driver.  We had to wait quite a long time and the kids were getting so hungry.  It was after 11, we left our house at 9, and we, being the wonderful parents we are (sarcasm), forgot to bring food.  Isaiah was asking for food and then all the kids started asking.  There was a lady sitting behind Micah eating a sandwich and the kids noticed this yummy looking sandwich and were asking us in English if we had any food.  She must've understood and broke off half of her sandwich and gave it to Isaiah to eat.  He naturally shared with all of his siblings and they hungrily devoured it.  She got so much joy out of watching them eat it.  Micah just kept smiling at her and the lady ripped off a little piece and gave it to her.  Isaiah walked over and asked Micah for a bite and the lady laughing, waved her finger and said no no no.  Then, when she had just a little bit left she ripped off a tiny piece and gave it to Isaiah.  The kids were all so thankful for her.  We called her our angel sent from God.  She allowed our wait to be more bearable.  I also believe that she found joy out of our kids.