Sisters

Sisters.

I have two of them.  

They have known me longer and better than anyone else. 

  

I always wanted to be like them when I was growing up.  

That's what big sisters are for. (I'm the cute youngest one in the picture above!)

Two of us weren't friends as teenagers but once we grew up we realized what good friends sisters could be. And what good "second-moms"  sisters could be to our children when we were so far away. 

One of the highlights of our furlough years was having "Sister Days."

They were such fun. 

A whole day together.  Just us.

We took turns hosting and planning them:

       making verenike while visiting... 

       browsing quilt stores was always a favorite for all three of us. Helping Donna make up her mind was 

            always a challenge!

       recovering dining room chairs while chatting...  

       antique shopping while talking non-stop...  

       quilting while we recounted story after story...  

       making look-a-like quilted table runners while we laughed and cried.

       working on our own handwork projects.

       sometimes doing nothing but talking   all.   day.   long.  

           

 We always had so much to say to each other.

 The hours flew by too quickly.

 We never got as much accomplished as we thought we would. 

 We laughed until the tears came and then laughed some more. Our husbands would just shake their heads.

 We hurt for each other. 

 I always knew that I was safe telling my sisters what I couldn't tell anyone else. 

We LOVED being together.  

And now one is gone. 

After struggling with cancer for so many years, she's free. 

Free to lift her head high and look straight into the eyes of  her Lord and Savior.  

I wanted to stop in so badly on my way home from town on First Street this morning..just to say hi.  A "hi" that used to take an hour or two!  And she would say as I was leaving,  "do you need anything?  Eggs?  Tomatoes? How about some fresh bread?"  

It would be total selfishness to wish her back. 

But I miss her so much.

Party at the Neighbors!

At 7:00 this morning, as we were eating breakfast, the aroma of incense came wafting over the wall that separates us from our neighbors and we knew the party was starting!  It was a "baptism" for a baby boy, born 8 days ago, to the daughter of the Muslim family next door.  We were invited for 7:30am.  As we walked out our gate we were surprised to see 50 or more men sitting on the street in front of their yard.  

I was taken into the courtyard where there were so many women we could barely thread our way through to the back where the mother and baby were.  

 The baby was darling... I got to hold him.  This is the naming ceremony, the name was given by the father.  Since this is the mom's first baby, she will stay in the house for 40 days during which she is coddled and fattened up and given a chance to recuperate.  At the end of the 40 day period she will get her hair fixed, be given a new outfit and sent back to her husband.

The beautiful young mother.  

I sat with the other women, clueless as to what was going to happen next.  But when I saw them wrestle and tie down a goat and  then sharpen a knife, I had a pretty good idea.  The Imam came to do the initial slitting of the throat and then went out and announced to the men what the infant's name was.  

We were served an assortment of popcorn, fritter-like cakes and dates and cola nuts.

The local drummers arrived.  When they saw the white lady, they surrounded me and beat their drums.  And beat their drums.  And beat their drums.  I finally concluded that this was a "you give me money and I'll quit" drumming and as I had no money for them they continued to drum!  And I pretended I didn't know what they wanted.  It was actually quite entertaining.  They finally stopped and in frustration one of them said, "Madame, money!"  They left thoroughly disgusted and went outside to play for Tom who had a coin in his pocket for them.

One of the drummers had a coin in his ear--I didn't know if this was a type of ear plug or a hint...

We were then served another dish--a sort of couscous made from corn and mixed with a certain leaf.  They placed platters around the yard and we all crowded into groups and helped ourselves.

My dear "grandma" and I enjoyed the time together in spite of the fact that she speaks no French and I speak no Hausa.

  

There were goats and sheep in abundance in the yard along with one cow.  Amazing.  They licked the platters clean.

 

 

Early Morning Walk

During the 6 weeks I was in Kansas this past summer,  one of the highlights was leaving the house before the sun came up and walking east on our quiet country roads while watching the sun edge up over the horizon.   Never any cars.  Fresh air.  An occasional deer.  A great time to sing and pray (and visit with my walking partner).

This morning I walked east on my road in Niamey.

We have a lovely, new, mile-long cement road in front of our house to walk on now (it's still being worked on so is closed to most traffic).  There were people wrapped  in sheets or mosquito nets sleeping on the sidewalks.  Long sticks stuck in the ground to hold up mosquito nets lined the road while people dozed in the cooler early morning breeze.  There were quite a few people up and about--even "Grandma" from next door was out getting her morning exercise.

Notice the lights!  I'm dreaming of  benches with flowering pots of petunias...

Earlier in the week I walked to our office which winds its way through the university campus.  I enjoy this section of the walk due to the sidewalk as pedestrians NEVER have the right away here.

I was amazed at the different look to the university grounds from what it looked like in June when we left.  What were huge empty fields of sand and scrub with the occasional university building in June are now planted to beans and spear-head millet.  Every where.  Around all the buildings.

I passed a motorcycle repairman who had set up shop on the side of the busy road.

At the edge of the university campus was the river made by the flooding.  All the homes in this area that were made of mud-brick melted away during the flood. Hundreds of them.  What used to be a road is now passable only by wading through the water or you can pay 10 cents for a canoe ride.

 When I arrived home this morning,  my neighbor was sweeping the area where she was heating the oil to fry and sell her "onion donuts" to hungry passers-by.