Celebration 2012

"Room With a View"

     I spent almost six days in "Paradise" (at least it felt like what I imagine Paradise to be).  I stayed in an air-conditioned room and enjoyed the view above from my window.

Notice the air-conditioner!

My wonderful bathtub!

     Every morning after breakfast and each evening before supper we had our worship sessions.  What a blessing to be a part of this great body of believers singing praises to our Great God and led by a wonderful worship team.  The two men who delivered the messages spoke to us about holiness.  It was a blessing to hear God's Word shared with us by such gifted men of God.  We were challenged to be holy in all that we do and to have a holy faith, holy hope, and holy love.
     In some of our other sessions we heard from various personnel within our company who were there to answer any questions we might have or help us out in any way.  I can't honestly say those sessions were inspirational but I did enjoy getting to put faces to the names of people who send me emails from time to time.
     Much of our afternoons were free so I was able to relax by the pool or beach, walk around and enjoy the things God has created, and visit with friends.

Weaver bird

Monitor lizard

     Each evening some of us would gather together to play games.  I was a part of a group that played the game "Fishbowl."  It provided a lot of entertainment and laughter for all involved.  I can't wait to share this game with my family and friends when I get back home!  Hope all of you are ready for some fun!
     I really enjoyed getting to be around friends I have made while being in Senegal.  It also provided the opportunity to meet many new friends who are serving in various places.  And I must admit that I REALLY enjoyed eating three wonderful meals a day that I didn't have to prepare myself.  As a result of all that food, I did make myself go to the fitness room a few times and get in some exercise.  This was a wonderful way to end my first year of service in Senegal and boost me up for my last year of service.

Summer Days

     Since returning to Fatick from my vacation in the US life has been at a much slower pace.  I spent the first couple of weeks cleaning up the place and reorganizing things.  The classroom is all set up for the beginning of school and I've even completed the first week's lesson plans.  We have been to Saly a couple of times for shopping and swimming.  Last week I went to Dakar to study Wolof with my teacher, Patricia.  It was a good week but quite tiring.  Progress is being made, though, because I'm understanding a bit more of the language.  And sometimes I even remember what I'm supposed to say!
     While I was away the work on my back door got finished and my water filter is now working.  Woohoo!  We purchased a new stove (my old one only had two working eyes) and I bought some new towels for the other bathroom.  Everything is just about ready for the two girls who will be living with me for four months beginning August 9.  My new stove has six eyes so we should be able to do some major cooking.
     Rainy season has begun which has brought on more humidity.  At least the temperature cools off some during and right after the rain.  Things are turning green and the dust has settled down.  Now that the screen is on my back door I can open up the metal door and have better ventilation which keeps my house from being so hot.
   
   
 

Vacation (I think)

I arrived in Atlanta on June 2 having traveled from Dakar via Paris for many hours.  Andrea, Amber, Amy, Noah, Jonah, and Eden were there to greet me and drive me home to the farm.

My first stop that night was dinner at the Log Cabin.  (Unfortunately the cheese grits were scorched but the cabin shrimp was great.)

Heritage VBS

Pleasant Plains VBS

My three weeks home were a whirlwind of activity.  I shared about my life in Senegal with two WMU groups, two senior adult groups, one assisted living group, one discipleship class, one Sunday night service, two Wednesday night prayer meetings, a VBS one night, and a VBS a few minutes every morning for one week.

My first weekend home was spent at Lake Martin at my cousin's house for a Keown family reunion.  It was fun getting together for an occasion other than a funeral.  Phil also cooked up a feast for us to enjoy.  My high school band was having a reunion close by so I also got spend a few minutes with them before I left.
.

I left the reunion to head back to Dothan for a baby shower.  Amber, my "adopted" daughter is having her first baby (It's a boy!) in August.  Of course, I had to make sure he had his first John Deere toy.

I managed to have a few fun outings during my three weeks.  David and I went fishing at our pond in Georgia.  We only caught a few small fish but I still had fun.  Then Steven, Noah, Levi, and I went to an Atlanta Braves baseball game.

Me and my "grands"

I also made a trip to the Montgomery Zoo with Levi, Jonah, Eden, Andrea, and Amy to meet up with Stephanie and her two girls, Maddox and Brookelyn (dear friends from Athens, Alabama).

"Auburn" tiger

Riding the train

In between all of these activities I managed to do some shopping, eating at my favorite restaurants, and visiting with some friends.  Needless to say, I needed to come back to Senegal to get some rest.

An Afternoon At the Beach

Since we have been experiencing some rather hot days lately, it was decided that an afternoon trip to the beach was in order.  My neighbor's children had not been to a pool/beach so we all headed to Mbour together to enjoy an afternoon of fun.

We had the pool to ourselves as well as the beach.  The water has begun to warm up but I still declined to go swimming.  It was fun just watching the kids play in the water, sit and listen to the waves, and walk around taking pictures.

Just before leaving we took a walk along the beach.  The kids enjoyed finding some shells to bring home.

I always have a good time taking pictures of anything I think is interesting.

Salt

There is an inland waterway that comes up through Fatick from the ocean.  The water is high in salt content so there are those who work to harvest the salt.  They will build a wall of dirt and allow it to fill with water.  Over time the water will evaporate and leave the salt.  The salt is then piled and made ready to be bagged and carried away for processing.  

Dry salt beds

Salt just beneath the water that is evaporating

Mound of salt

Close up of salt mound

Hand on the left is salt from the mound.  Hand on the right is salt from the water.

Some of the kids' friends went with us to swim and play in the water.  It was a nice break from the heat that we have been experiencing here in Fatick (111+ degrees).  

Dust!

April has finally started living up to its reputation:  hot and dusty.  This weekend the winds blew in which caused the dust to fly.  My floors and furniture were covered in dust!  I swept my floors three times in the space of a few hours and tried to wipe the dust off of my furniture.  I was fighting a losing battle!  It was so dusty that you couldn't even see the shape of the sun in the sky.  Not only was the dust bad but it was also very hot.  I checked the temperature in Fatick at 1:30 am on Sunday and it was 95 degrees.  The high during the day was over 108 degrees!  At least my house stays fairly cool as long as I keep the fans blowing.   These two pictures illustrate what it is like when the dust is blowing.

Rat Trap

After living here in Fatick for a little over six months I have come to accept the fact that I will have a few "house guests" on occasion.  Armed with Yotox, I can take care of all the roaches without too much trouble.  I have had some lizards living with me which haven't alarmed me too much because I know they eat insects.  However, when one decided to move into my bedroom and take up residence behind my dresser, I wasn't too thrilled.  To make matters worse, it would decide to "chirp" early in the morning and wake me up.  I would then have to cover my head with a pillow if I wanted to be able to go back to sleep.  I did everything I could to convince it to move to another room but it wouldn't listen.  Several weeks ago I discovered I had another visitor.  This time it was a rat.  I used some rat glue spread out on a cardboard to catch it which was a great relief.  Then, a few weeks later I saw another one run across the floor.  I bought me a rat glue trap from the store this time and finally caught it.  I was glad to know that those things really worked!  I haven't seen any more rats but I still left a trap out just in case.  Yesterday morning I awoke to find a roach stuck to my trap.  After returning from our trip to the beach last night I discovered I had caught a lizard on my glue trap (I guess it was trying to eat the roach).  I was a little sorry about that since it eats bugs but there wasn't anything I could do about it.  This morning when I was not awakened by the usual chirping I decided I wasn't so sorry I caught that lizard.  After getting up I discovered I had caught another rat on my glue trap.  While he was stuck, he enjoyed eating half the lizard.  Since I'm not too fond of these kinds of varmints I used a rake to push the cardboard trap out my front door.  When my teammates showed up for "church" at my house I was able to get one of them to dispose of it for me.  I think I will be buying me a large supply of those glue traps the next time I go to the store!