Day 15 Photo a Day: Love

Love.
Public display of affection is a no-no here in Niger.
Can't even hold hands in public.  Even old married people.
I miss walking hand in hand with my dream man.  Really miss it.
Sometimes when we are alone on the road we hold hands a bit.  Or at night.
Tonight we were invited to some friends' house across town.
They live on a beautiful street with tons of bougainvillea flowers.
It was much too romantic to just walk--so Linds documented the illegal activity!

Day 14 Photo a Day: Grass

Yes, that's right,  grass is the subject for today.  We don't have a blade of it in our concrete yard.  The neighbors don't have any.  So, Lindsay and I walked up to the round-about where we catch our taxis because I knew I'd seen grass there.

The grass is a bit hidden. I didn't notice it for a number of months even though I walked right by it several times a day.  There is a caretaker who waters it carefully.   It's roped off so no one walks on it--the caretaker makes sure of that.  I've wanted to take my shoes off so badly and walk on it but I haven't had the courage to ask yet.  

Day 13: Photo a Day: Mum

Mum.  Mom.  Mommy.  Mama.  Maman.  Mother.

What an incredible privilege to be called Mother.

Nothing brings more joy, more contentment, more satisfaction, more sleepless nights, more heart pain than mothering.

I have 4 adult children now.  Where did the years go?
So many memories.

• Dreams of motherhood crushed as we buried our first little girl in Iowa. 
• Melissa deciding to be born in Des Moines instead of Iowa City so Tom had to give up his post of Best Man in our dear friends' wedding to welcome her into the world.  
• Andrew, born in France during language school.  What an absolute blue-eyed, dark-haired charmer he was!  
• Moving to Central African Republic where first Lindsay and then Erika were born.  Our two "Ouali-Bangui(s)".

Now they are all adults, bringing us so much joy as they choose to follow Jesus.

Melissa arrived in Kansas last night from France where she is a missionary.  How I would have loved to welcome her with roses at the airport!  That's what moms do, right?  Her Dad was awake at 3:00 am tracking her flight on the computer until it landed in Wichita.  Her "other Kansas family" joined Erika at the airport to welcome her.  Thanks so very much, Beverlins, for making her homecoming so special.  That brought tears to this mom's heart.

Andrew is working in Minneapolis, MN.  We are so thrilled at how God continues to work in his life and build a depth to his character that only comes through hard knocks.  How we love and miss him!  

Lindsay is the only one that gets to celebrate Mother's Day with her mom in real life!  Our joy-giver.  Such a gifted teacher.  It blesses my heart to walk through the school yard with her and hear shouts of "Ms. Dorsch, Ms. Dorsch!!" coming from loving, admiring students.

Erika just finished her second year of college.  It wasn't so long ago that she was playing Barbies with Lindsay.   She's going to be an incredible nurse.   What a joy it brings to hear of the godly influence she is having in the lives of fellow students.

Tom and I stepped outside our gate to take an evening walk.  Our neighbor goat is a new mom of triplets.  Sooooo cute!

One look at the sky and we realized taking a walk was not such a good idea.  The dust storm was rolling in.

One of the most beautiful sounds in the world, in a sun-scorched land, is the sound of raindrops on the tin roof.  Lindsay was the first to hear the pings.  I think there were 259 drops that fell!  It did smell luscious.

Happy Mother's Day!

Day 12 Photo a Day: Something I Makes You Happy

Something that makes you happy.
Something that makes me happy.
I just about skipped this one.
It seemed rather inconsequential.
Some of the other photo challenges have been so fun to do.
Besides, there are lots of things that make me happy.
And I already noted a bunch of things that bring me delight in an earlier post.

But tonight, as I sat down at my desk to make a few graduation cards, I realized that stamping really does make me happy.  I LOVE to make cards for people and I hope that receiving them makes them happy as well.

I have 2 nephews and 1 niece that graduated from high school today.  I wish I was partying with them and their families today in Kansas.  I also have a nephew who graduated with his master's from Kansas State.  Way to go, Wiebe clan!  I'm proud of you all.

I'm in the process of making their cards.  Here's one:

Whether the card will simply be signed with lots of love or something more (!!!) included in the card will depend on whether we receive the graduation announcement WITH a senior picture.  You've been duly warned Denny, Casey and Carrie!!

We love you all and are so proud of you.




(Card is CASED  from Mary Fish @ Stampin' Pretty.)

Day 11 Photo a Day: Kitchen

Today's photo challenge is "Kitchen".  Mine is not too exciting and in most ways, it's similar to yours:  cabinets, gas stove, fridge, sink.  But let me take you next door to a kitchen of a different style.  In the following photo, you can see our yellow gate and right next to it is a red gate.  That is where "Grandma" lives as well as Adam and our night guard and a lot of other people as well as a dozen goats (they only come home for night) and a plethora of chickens.  

And, voila, the kitchen!  These women do a ton of cooking.  Ramatou, the lady looking at the camera, is making a corn-based couscous to sell to passers by for breakfast.  Early in the morning she sets up a table in front of our gate to serve breakfast.

A close up of the corn couscous being steamed.
Huge pots.
 Hot fires.
Hard work.
Beastly high temperatures everyday.
One water spigot by the gate.
One light bulb in the entire courtyard.
No sink. No stoves. No refrigerator.
Great neighbors.

Day 10 Photo a Day: Favorite Word

My all-time favorite word is  DELIGHT! 

 Doesn't that just make you smile and feel all wonderful inside? :)  

When someone is delighted, their eyes light up, there is joy.

I was trying to think of things that delight me here in Niger: 

walking into an air-conditioned room

sliding (I've given up diving)  into the swimming pool when it's 120 degrees out

seeing Lindsay walk in the door at the end of the day

eating breakfast with my dream man outside on the porch

getting a real, snail-mail letter

lemon pie

a really good book  ( Melissa, Crime and Punishment doesn't fit this category!)

having a good "guffaw" with the neighbors

etc.  

I've been amazed how many verses in the Bible contain the word "delight":  

delighting in His Word, 

delighting in weakness (that's a tough one), 

His river of delights. 

 The most amazing are the ones that speak of God delighting in us:  

"He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing."

That's incredible.  

Every blog post needs a picture, right?   Here's my delightful neighbor boy, Adam.

 

Day 9 Photo a Day: Something you do everyday

Something I do everyday... I asked Lindsay what she would say and she said "sweat".  But I don't want to talk about the weather everyday so I went with a sensible, everyday habit:  brushing my teeth.  I didn't bother to take a picture of my toothbrush, much too mundane.  But I did get some pictures of the tooth brush sticks that are used all over in Niger.

They are about 10 inches long.  Just strips of wood from a certain tree.  There is another kind made out of a reddish wood that tastes sweet and, according to my neighbor, chewing on one of these sticks takes care of cavities and anything else that might be wrong with your teeth.  

We were on our way home in a taxi when we saw a pile of the tooth-sticks so our taxi man pulled over and bought us 3 of them for a nickel.  Not a bad price without coupons!

I was outside my gate visiting with my neighbor about these local toothbrushes: how to use them, how long do they last, etc. when "Grandma" walked out of  the yard, grabbed one of my sticks, broke it in two and gave my half back and stuck the other in her mouth!  I figured I deserved a picture for that!  I understand that they work better when the end is worn down a bit, and becomes a bit frayed like a ... toothbrush.