Making a fashion statement!

We walk a lot.  I enjoy it as there is never a lack of interesting things to see.  The downside is footwear.  I would love to wear my tennis shoes when I walk through the deep sand or on the rocky, uneven paths, all the while skirting the "deposits" made by the many animals that use the same path.  But alas, tennis shoes with dresses just aren't "a la mode" here.   So, this week, as I was preparing to combine my exercise walking with going to the office for a meeting, I decided to throw caution to the wind and wear my tennis shoes with my beautiful purple boubou (African dress).  I was hoping that no one would notice my white tennies peeking out from under my dress IF it the skirt was long enough and IF I walked so fast that my shoes would just be a blur as I passed by.  


The walk was absolutely wonderful.  Wading through sand had never been so easy.  Leaping over "the deposits" was delightful.  But, oh, my, did I get a lot of strange looks and even a few giggles. I just lifted my chin and kept trucking.  Kris, you would have been so proud of me!   I repeated this on Tuesday and then Wednesday, as I walked out of my gate, wearing sandals like normal women do, the eyes of my neighbors immediately went to my feet!  I'm sure they were disappointed in my choice of shoes (or not!).   

Rest assured, I do take along my sandals to change when I arrive at the office.  I've included a few pictures of the "deposit-ers" we saw on  the main road walking home from church on Sunday. 

 BTW, did you know that it is illegal to eat donkeys in Niger?  I just found that out this week.  Not that I've ever been tempted...

The Schoolmarm

We never dreamed that one of our children would be with us this time in Africa!  Lindsay came in November to student teach at Sahel Academy for 4 weeks.  We knew that was going to happen.  At the end of the semester, one of the French teachers left unexpectedly so Lindsay was offered the job for 2nd semester.  She accepted and after graduating in December from Emporia State in Kansas she is now teaching five classes of beginner French at Sahel.  AND...living with us!  We're still working out the rent agreement...I suggested she wash all the floors before she leaves for school every morning! But that would mean getting up at 3am in order to finish before she leaves for school at 6:30. So we'll look for plan B.  Actually, we are thrilled to have her here with us.  I'm re-living my first year of teaching in Osborne, KS again as she comes home with funny stories and spends hours every night planning creative ways to teach French to children from 1st grade to high school.  She had the crazy idea that I would LOVE doing her bulletin boards...that died a quick death.

Another plus is that her friends come over so our social life is improving.   Watching a movie means that everyone crowds together on the couch in order to see the computer screen.  

Wall Art

We are home in Niamey again after lots of traveling in December.  The temperatures are wonderfully cool and the "air-dust" isn't too bad.  The new road in front of our house is literally "gaining ground" so the 6 foot drop off in front of our house is now only 2 feet.  The road packer machine has been working the last couple of days which makes the entire house vibrate each time he goes by. 
  
Yesterday Tom and I added some color to our all white walls!  Yeah!  Pictures! I've never gotten so many gifts for Christmas to hang on our  walls.  It's fabulous.  It's just hard to decide where to put them.  Natalie Klassen did an awesome job on the French wall art verse.  Thanks so much, Terry, for your part in that gift--unexpected...IKEA had wonderful picture frames and so we pounded big nails into our concrete walls and even the road packer machine didn't shake them off the walls.  It makes it seem so much more homey with our kids all looking at us while we eat! 

Andrew totally surprised me with this gorgeous wall art!  I absolutely love it.  He also brought his Dad a very large world map that is going up very soon.

Melissa gave me this for Christmas.  Can you figure out the meaning of the numbers?  Thanks, my girl.  Poor Melissa, she lost a couple more of her framed pictures to her mama...she is so generous and has such a great way of decorating her apartment.  I'm sure she won't miss them for long!  

I just finished baking bread and got to use this beautiful cutting board that Erika gave me.  I absolutely love it and have it hanging in my kitchen.  Thanks, sweetie.  (Jenny G., I think my kids went shopping at The Well and found some pretty cool stuff!)  

Sweetness in Remembering

We just said goodbye to Andrew, Lindsay and Erika.
Put them on the train for Paris.
Gut wrenching.
I hate goodbyes.
Heaven will be so wonderful.

God has blessed us with such awesome children.  
The 9 days spent together was amazing.  
We have been reminded again and again of God's tender mercies toward us.  
We are so undeserving, yet he keeps heaping blessings from His unlimited supply.  

Melissa was an awesome hostess.
 Her apartment was home to all of us girls and the boys stayed nearby in a co-worker's apartment.
  We loved discovering her city.  So much history.
 She loved making us experience the "RUN! The bus is coming!"
We had potato leek soup and quiche lorraine without the cheese...oops!
 

 Andrew loved the WW II history at Normandy. 

When conversations got emotional, we could count on his humor to bring laughter and lighten the moment...usually.  

We had such fun playing games... pinochle, farkle, yatzee...
And the patisseries and bakeries...oh my! 

Lindsay's dream came true when she got to spend the morning journaling/reading in a quaint coffee shop. 

She could be counted on to make us all laugh with her crazy stories.

She boldly used her French at every opportunity.

And those darling rain boots...

Erika loved shopping in the French stores.  

Seeing the differences in fashion and trying not to appear toooo American was her goal. 

Her "oh, my word!" brought Lindsay's theatrics back to reality.

She was quick to learn how to find her way around the city on the buses and metro. 

We are so blessed!

Christmas in Rennes

It is just starting to sink in that we are indeed celebrating Christmas in France, with Melissa, and with Andrew, Lindsay and Erika.  What a gift from God!  Lindsay and Erika arrived a few days earlier than the rest of us; Tom and I and Andrew(from Minneapolis) arrived at the airport on Saturday morning, the 24th, and then took the fast train to Rennes.  The girls were waiting for us at the train station.  What a reunion!  To be all together for a week...a dream come true.
 
After catching up on the first round of news and making a few Christmas goodies, we went to downtown Rennes to see the Christmas market.  Crepes with nutella were the top choice.  

Donna, thanks for the yummy peppernuts.  I love sitting down with a cup of hot tea and dunking my peppernuts.

Thanks for your prayers as we traveled.  We have celebrated together God's tender mercies.

Old Home Week

We have just arrived home from a week in Togo, a small country in West Africa, for a conference grouping the staff in Francophone Africa.  We have been in this area of Africa since 1987 (24 years); long enough to have made many dear friends. Some we've seen more often than others.

As we walked around the room on Tuesday morning shaking hands and kissing the cheeks of precious friends, I had tears running down my face.  Many of these dear, dear friends have suffered through civil war in their countries or are currently dealing with serious health issues and don't have the means to get proper help.  They know what it is to live without.   There was the noticeable absence of  those who had gone to be with the Lord or, in a few heart-rending cases, are no longer walking with the Lord.  I know the pictures will mean very little to most of you readers, but I wanted our children to see some of those dear friends who played an important part in their growing up, friends who spent many hours in our home and in so doing, built in them a love for Africa and it's people that is deeply embedded in their hearts.

Djas and Cosette are from Chad.   We were at their wedding 13 years ago.  Djas also visited our parents' farms in Kansas a number of years ago. Tom has frequently been with them in Chad.  We count them as some of our very dearest friends.  Their love and commitment to the Lord is astounding as they work in a very difficult country and Djas suffers from some very serious health issues.


Hey, kids.  Do you remember this lady?  We arrived on Monday afternoon in Togo at the little hotel we were assigned to and who should walk out of the door but Marceline!  She was such a part of our family all of our years in Bangui.  That's been a long time ago and I hadn't seen her since.  She remembers so many funny things about the kids, especially Andrew's reaction at Erika's birth!  "Another girl?  I don't want her.  I don't like her!  We were supposed to have a boy for me."  Remember when she showed up the night we were to leave for our first furlough and spent the night on the living room floor...because that's what good friends do in their culture!

We were unprepared to see Abel, as he was not going to be able to come, but at the last moment, someone helped him buy a plane ticket. His diabetes has taken it's toll on his body and the 48 hour bus ride would have been too much.  What a dear, dear friend since Bangui days.   With deep emotion, he said, "thanks for coming back to Francophone and suffering along with us."

Of course, we loved re-connecting with our staff in Burkina Faso.  Tom gets to talkin' with those guys and the guffaws can be heard from a long way off!

 The last day was picture taking day and hats were all the rage.  Aren't they just charming?

Now for the fashion statement of the conference:  we, the women from Niger, decided to wear the national costume from the city of Agadez, Niger.   I have never been dressed in sequins before and felt quite angelic! The photo doesn't begin to show how we glittered.

Nest Building

Three countries.
Three homes.
Three sets of living room furniture.
Three sets of sofa cushions.




Tom ordered our living room furniture last June when he was here so it would be completed by the time we arrived.  It was finished and stacked at the carpenter's workplace when we arrived in October and stayed there until we found our house.  I thought you might want to see his carpentry shop.

Then the great day came when we were ready for the furniture to be delivered.

Then my work began.  The couch and living room chairs needed foam cut to size and fabric chosen for covering them.  The foam cutting was the easy part (the factory did that) and Tom picked it up in a taxi.)  I looked in the two fabricstores several times before I finally found one that had enough fabric on the bolt for my job.  As you can see, it's not easy rummaging through the bolts that are stacked on top of each other.

The final choice was made and the fabric was measured and cut.

I had hoped to sew them myself but realized the job was a bit too big for my lower end sewing skills so found a tailor who did a magnificent job... and all with a treadle machine

 Our African friends often say:  "Little by little a bird makes his nest!"   Slowly, little by little our house is becoming a home.  Next is curtains... more fabric shopping...