Election Results

The first round of the Presidential election is over, and it was peaceful.  Senegal is the only West African country that has NOT had a military take-over.  President Wade received about 35% of the vote and Macky Sall around 25%.  The run-off election will be later in March.  The most exciting part of the election for me was a campaign trip President Wade took to Kaffrine.  He came right by our house and I got to see the top of his hat!

My Missionary Kids

Molly had her ninth birthday on Election Day.  She spent the weekend with me, and we made clothes for her little Molly doll.  She spent Saturday night with her friend Kirsty and came home on her birthday to a little birthday cake I made for just us.  We had whipped cream and sprinkles on it and she was mightily pleased.  We had a party for her on Tuesday at our English team prayer meeting with kitty cat cupcakes, presents, supper together and a movie from her USA grandmother that arrived in the mail that morning!  More pictures on the Pictures tab!

Homeschool is racing right along.  We all had fun doing spelling in chocolate pudding on the kitchen table.   The older girls are enjoying experiments we are doing with electricity.  Wheaton has graduated from the “I Can Read It” instructional books and is now reading REAL books!  We still struggle with getting everything done in a school day, but I have decided this is normal.  Isn’t it???

Our Kaffrine Bible Kids have new club t-shirts and wear them with jeans to club every Thursday.  We all worked together to design our logo and are very proud of it!  We are working on an Easter play.  Looking at the calendar, we are speculating about whether we will get to put on our play for our Spiritual Life Conference or just our home group here in Kaffrine.  We are studying the New Testament now, memorizing the books and acting out NT stories for the other kids to guess which story it is.  I was very gratified to see one team acting out the story of Philemon we had studied the week before.  They really are learning this stuff!!!

Upcoming Special Events

Corey and Katie celebrate 14 years of marital bliss on the 14^th of March.  To celebrate they will take a two-day trip to the coast to visit with long-time friends who will be in Senegal for a conference.  The girls and I will stay here and cook up mischief.

Our annual Spiritual Life Conference (SLC) will be 4 to 7 April and we are all excited.  This year Dan and Laurie Porch will be the speakers.  They are former team mates so are intimately acquainted with the spiritual as well as physical needs of the SIM mission community.  We are all looking forward to seeing these good friends!

My Trip to Abu Dhabi

I have a ticket to Abu Dhabi!  After the SLC I will go to Dakar and then fly out to Abu Dhabi from there on April 8.  I will arrive in Abu Dhabi the night of Monday the 9^th and leave the night of Monday April 23^rd.  So far my schedule includes:

Thursday, April 14 appointment in the evening

Friday, April 13– speaking with Children’s ministries; lunch with Atallah family

Sunday, April 15 – AWANA

Friday, April 20 – sharing in worship

In between, my schedule is open and available!  Please, let’s have coffee, or have me to your home group!  I want to hear all about what has been going on in Abu Dhabi with you; to hear of all the things that have happened, the joys and sorrows of the last two years, and to share some of mine with you!  I have stories of trials and triumphs; tales of Kaffrine and village life that will amaze and make you laugh and some that will make you cry.  And there are all the exciting plans for the next three years to share!  I will have such a short time in Abu Dhabi, and I want to see as many of you as I can.  Please email me NOW with days and times you can meet up with me so I can reserve YOUR time in the schedule!

Home Assignment

Almost as soon as I return to Kaffrine, I will be packing up for a year-long adventure in the USA!  I will continue to be part of Corey and Katie’s household but in a different role.  While the girls will be enrolled in school, Corey and Katie will still be busy with ministry duties and work.  Katie also hopes to work with ESL students.  Corey will shoulder the bulk of the contact with churches and other supporters, speaking appointments and the like.  I will take over the responsibilities of housekeeping as well as childcare outside of school hours when Corey and Katie are out of town.  I am also pursuing a ministry serving the larger work of SIM while I am Stateside.  The job SIM is asking me to fill is the role of Assistant to the Northeast Regional Director of SIM USA.  This would keep me actively working with SIM which would enable me to retain my health insurance and allow me to receive support (which I need!).  The initial task I will tackle in this role is updating a database of churches in the region which we anticipate will take several months.

As we plan for this coming year of home assignment, there are lots of logistical details to settle.  We are happy that Emma has her new passport, so we can take her with us!  We have already been blessed with a place for the six of us to live.  We still need two automobiles; one for Corey and Katie to take on speaking trips and one for me to take the girls to and from school, grocery shop, etc.  We are rejoicing in the prayers that God has already answered and ask for continued prayer for the rest!

Please be in prayer with us as we strive to maintain our focus on the tasks at hand, and at the same time plan for all the details that need to be handled in preparation for being in the United States for an extended length of time.

As always, more pictures are on the Pictures tab!

 

Items for Prayer:

• Please pray that the second round runoff election in March will go smoothly and have a clear winner.  Pray for a smooth transition from the present administration to the new one, regardless of who wins.
• Pray that we will stay focused on school and continue to work hard to finish well.
• Pray for all the travel arrangements for my trip to Abu Dhabi as well as travel to the United States in June.
• Pray for my time in Abu Dhabi; that I will have good times of visiting with old and new friends and supporters.
• Pray for our Spiritual Life Conference, our speakers coming from the United States, and all attendees as we travel from various places across Senegal to the coast just south of Dakar, and that we will be refreshed spiritually, physically and relationally.
• Pray for Corey and Katie as they celebrate 14 years of marriage with a trip March 26 to 28 to visit with other old friends coming to Senegal for a conference.  Pray for the girls and me as we will be home alone those three days.
• Pray for all the details to work out for me to stay active with SIM USA during our whole time in the USA.  Pray that God will provide the support I need as well as uninterrupted health insurance.