following the LEADER

Eight years ago this week we were all ready and excited.

I’ve been thinking tonight about why I’m so glad I married Dave.  Thinking about why I would do it all again in heart beat.  Here are just a few….

State Vacations: an idea that started our first year of marriage and has been successfully continued for the last 7 years.

[This photo was taken summer 2004.]

According to the kids at the orphanage he looks like Jack Bauer.  I agree.  He’s handsome.

He chases God, chases truth, and is not afraid to speak up for them when needed.

He knows how to keep his mouth shut and has been patiently trying to teach me to do the same for more than a decade now.

We’ve made 3 beautiful babies. And he’s a really great Dad.

[becoming a Dad:  May 21, 2006]

He has led our family to a life in this land that I love.

[vacation in Mali, October 2008]

I love being married to someone who dreams big dreams.

[paradise= our honeymoon, Providencialis BWI, August 2002]

He is faithful and of that I have no doubt.

He has forgiven me over and over.

The list goes on, but (as previously stated) I’m learning not to (go on and on that is)!  I have an amazing husband who teaches me and challenges me.  My life is fuller and richer because he is in it.  There is no one on Earth that I have more fun with or whom I would choose over him.

Thanks to all of you who have loved and supported and championed our marriage and our life together.  God is faithful and it is because of Him that we have enjoyed 8 awesome years of marriage.  I love you Dave.

It’s the rainy season in Niger and that means bugs.  Plenty of them.  Last night I was putting the boys’ toys away and I pulled a wicker basket out from under Caleb’s changing table.  Termites had eaten through the basket and made a mound up the wall behind the table.  YUCK.

The lizards have been hanging out “on the lawn” at our house to feast on the termites that are hatching there.  My friend Moumouni tells me that this is the season when the lizards grow fat because the bugs abound.

C’est comme ça ici.  [It's like that here].

With every grey cloud, there is a silver lining.  And my silver lining is the butterflies.  Our yard is FULL of them.  It is so fun to watch them float around playing games with each other.  They are difficult to capture on camera, but I have tried.  I’m wondering if anyone knows this species of butterfly.  Is it uniquely West African?  I wonder.

someone else has been learning to fly….

Happy Weekend!

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while now, there’s something you know about me.  I really. love. to sew.  Really, I do.  That’s why this post is so near and dear to my heart.

These sweet girls are being taught by our friend Ali all things related to couture. (basically, here, couture is everything you need to know to have a sewing business- embroidery, making clothes, knitting).  Ali is a graduate of the Masters Commission program run by our friends Rodrigo & Juanita Rivas.  He takes his job as teacher very seriously. It’s his desire to minister to them by giving them a skill that they can really use. And he’s doing a great job.  The girls, as you can see, are having a blast.  What an awesome thing this is.  So near and dear to my heart because I love these girls and I love what they’re learning.

embroidery

Ali making his students laugh.

learning to measure.  learning to love math.

in French a measuring tape is called metre.  these are well loved.

This is our friend Pierre.  He is the carpenter who built the new cabinets in our kitchen.  He goes to the Koura Kano church, and is volunteering to teach carpentry at the orphanage.  It’s amazing to witness what is happening with these boys as they learn a skill that they view as valuable and respectable.  They are like sponges, taking in every word, quick to want to try every skill themselves.  Quite frankly, it’s magical.  Their plan is to build a table, but they are really building something else.  young men.

Caleb had quite the cultural experience this week becoming acquainted with all of our friends at the Good Samaritan Orphanage.  He was just as delighted as they were.  Isn’t always a joy to know and love each other?  We thought so.