Photo Time!

It has been a while since we did a blog of photos, so we decided to post a lot of photos to give you a glimpse into our life through photos. We hope you enjoy these! 

Dave recently came down to do some work on the new clinic building.  We had missed his birthday so Jada made him a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting.  It was delicious!

To bring some fun to our lives we decided to eat our evening meal with serving utensils.  Meals can become so mundane here being the same few meals repeated over and over, so eating with utensils made it a lot of fun.  These kids ate a lot this night! 

Fellow missionary, Beryl Forrester, had a birthday so we partied it up together! When the guys all left to run some errands in Ziguinchor the kids and I decorated his house to surprise him.  He was quite surprised and loved it.  We also made carrot cake with sort of cream cheese (we used laughing cow cheese) frosting. 

Two neighbor kids, Sally and Beniceo, playing at our house.  The photo bomber is Zeke who is now serving with us in Catel. 

With so much of how the kids play in our yard being filled with violence we wanted to find an alternative way to use their creative energy.  There was a sand house building competition in our front path/yard.  This one in front won. When it was finished it even had a thatched roof and a veranda, very authentic.  

We started having some of the teenagers in the church over to practice looking up Bible verses quickly.  Lydia and Jada's friend, Elizabeti, liked it so much she wanted to turn it into Bible studies.  She has come many times to study the Bible with the girls.  

Hair cut day! Nothing is ever done in secret when you live in a small village.  I cut three boy's hair (well one young man and two boys) with a huge audience each time.  Not to mention all the little boys asking me to cut their hair too.  I told them all that my razor only can cut white people's hair.  :) 

Oh these four.  We could just name them all trouble, walking trouble. These four spend almost every day together and often times get into trouble together.  This particular day they had just gotten back from looking for fish out in the rice fields.  

I don't really know how to explain this picture, other than invasion of the flying termites!!! In the rainy season on nights after lots and lots of rain these flying termite drones come out and are drawn to light.  This night our new homeschool room, that was apparently built on a nest of them, was invaded.  When we woke up the next morning we could hear a buzzing sound through the door to that room. When we opened it we saw that the room was alive.  Yes, ALIVE.  These bugs were covering the floor of the room as well as in every nook and crany of the room, including their school books.  It was a rough way to wake up, but hey we still had breath so it was a good day.  

Every Sunday we cook for any children that are in our yard during the time we serve lunch.  We never know if it is going to be just our kids and the neighbor kids or much more. This day we ended up feeding 25 kids during a heavy rainstorm.  It was complete chaos, but was a wonderful blessing.  

What was just a typical soccer game in our yard turned into a mud fest when a downpour started.  Isaiah, however, enjoyed mud wrestling. 

Our children enjoy playing Uno with their friends on quiet days.  Uno is a game our kids have taught many children to play.  

Last, but definitely not least, is a picture of Rebekah.  If you don't know yet, Rebekah is our laundry lady's daughter.  She is like another child for us but her favorite is Michael. The other day I was at her aunt's house and Michael walked up, Rebekah took off running, throwing whatever was in her hands down and took a flying leap into his arms.

We hope you enjoyed these pictures! It is a joy to be a part of the lives of people in each of these pictures and so many more that aren't pictured.  Blessings to all of you!