Typical……… Routine……….. Usual………..

All these are terms you just can’t apply to life in Kaffrine!  No two weeks ever end up the same, but there is a basic structure that we ‘plan’ our lives around.  Tuesday afternoons, we have Team Prayer Meeting.  There are two other families and another short-termer (a young man about 20 years old) with SIM in Kaffrine.  We have an opportunity for worship IN ENGLISH followed by a time of prayer for the Wolof.  Then each person shares his or her concerns and is specifically prayed for.  We have refreshments together and a time of fellowship as well.  There are 7 children from the three families.  They participate in the worship but play outside during the prayer time.  The Garrett girls recite the Bible passages they memorize in school at these meetings.  On Thursday afternoons the long-term members of the SIM team meet for a ministry/business meeting.  This is without children, so the girls and I stay home and do school work or fun things and sometimes we make supper.  On Friday afternoon Corey, Katie and the girls all head out to the village to spend the weekend in their huts within the compound of their host.  They return late Monday in time for dinner and bed.  Sometimes, one of the girls will stay in Kaffrine with me for a weekend treat.  We get to spend some special together time, work on some ‘catch-up’ or ‘get ahead’ school work, and do some special projects.  Last weekend Molly and I made matching pants that look like skirts.  This weekend Emma will stay and catch-up on some work and I think make a pair of fancy pants for her, too.  Of course, these weekends always include a movie and popcorn, special rare treats!  Weekends I spend alone include extended quiet time and worship, more unpacking and settling, sorting and arranging, sleeping, advance school planning, and a little pamper Janie time!

A ‘typical’ school day starts at 8:00 with Bible reading, scheduled prayer for different American Indian tribes (part of the curriculum), practicing singing a biblical passage, and prayer for our day and any concerns the girls have.  Next we do Math drills, Science, and US History.  Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we also have Art, Poetry, or Orchestra Appreciation, one per day.  By this time, it is snack time, and the girls come back to their individual seat work in Math, Language Arts, Handwriting, Creative Writing, Reading and Spelling.  I then do their individual lessons in Reading, Spelling, Creative Writing and answer questions they have about any of their work.  We also have Literature we read aloud together.  In a perfect world, this is all completed by lunch time.  In Kaffrine, it is many times completed just before bed time.  Tuesdays, we try extra hard to get done with our school work early, for the girls do not like to take their work with them when we see the other kids on the team!

After lunch on Wednesday and Thursday, Wheaton is ready to do her Kindergarten work.  If I do not finish morning school, Wheaton doesn’t get home school.  However, when Katie has time, she will do school with Wheaton.  When they go out to the village, the girls either take school work for Monday, or do it ahead in Kaffrine so they do not need to do school in the village.  Molly is skillful in completing her school assignments so she can go work in the fields with the villagers, weeding or harvesting.  Katie regularly takes 2 days of school to do with Wheaton, as there is so little time for it in Kaffrine.  The girls are currently doing an extra day of school on Saturdays to lengthen their Christmas holiday.

All these carefully laid plans are also constantly interrupted by illness, other commitments, or necessary trips to Dakar or the like.  Katie and Corey’s September trip to Thailand for a SIM Conference is a good example of one kind of interruption.  Last weekend, Katie and I attended an annual Missionary Women’s Retreat near Dakar and Corey stayed home with the girls – SuperDad!!!

This is also a week of interruptions as the people are currently celebrating Eid (called Tabaski in Senegal).

Be sure to take a few minutes to see the pictures on the home page for recent antics!

Prayer Points:

Residence Permit: Praise for favor in the eyes of the officials when Katie and I went by the police office in Kaolack last week to extend my temporary permit to stay here.  We still need a police background check, but they graciously extended my original one-month visa for three more months.  Please pray we will be able to complete this necessary police background check before the current visa expires.

Senegal Missionary Women’s Retreat: Praise for a wonderful time of refreshment in many different ways, new friends made, and other relationships strengthened.

Health Concerns: The rainy season here in Senegal is over, and so the area is drying up.  This means the dust is increasing, so every where is covered with dust and dirt. I am allergic to dust, so this irritates my breathing.  I am already back on all the asthma medicine I had in Abu Dhabi, but still have a cough and chest congestion. So far, all members of the family have been sick at one time or another, except me (if I don’t count the chest congestion). Please pray that I will be able to adjust to this dusty place, my breathing will be stress-free without congestion and I will continue strong and healthy.

Homeschooling Issues: The work with homeschooling is going well with Emma (8 years old, 3rd grade) and Molly (7, 2nd grade) and we have started our 12th week of school.  Wheaton (5) is just starting week 8 of Kindergarten.  Please pray that school will continue to progress well with Emma and Molly and that I will be able to do more with Wheaton.  Pray also that I will be a faithful and godly example for their overall development.