August 14, 2010 (our 39th anniversary)

Wow, I'm so sorry that it has been 3 months since I have updated my blog. The last two months we spent in the States seeing friends & family. We also spoke in several churches, celebrated birthdays & homegoings. We saw our medical doctor, dentist, and eye doctor. We took a trip to Washington State and Canada and nearly froze, but we had a good time anyway. The day we left it finally warmed up. (This pic is celebrating my 60th birthday with grandsons Dylan & Brandon)

(This pic is Jim, the grandchildren and son Jason getting ready to hike in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado)

The day after arriving back in the US, we drove to Nebraska to help my Uncle Smitty celebrate his 90th birthday. We had such a good time with him and he was doing quite well. Then several weeks later he suffered a stroke and after a week he went home to be with the Lord. We were so glad that we made the effort to go see him. (The picture is myself and my sister Rachel with Uncle Smitty.)

We arrived back here in Dakar, Senegal on Monday morning. We slept for a couple of hours, then we moved our things from the house we stayed in last year to the apartment we will live in this year. Tuesday and Wednesday we spent getting Jim's classroom all ready for the start of school on Thursday. Jim had a good first day of school. He has 13 children, mostly from the US and Canada.

Thursday I unpacked and put away our things in our new apartment. We live on the 3rd floor of our building. We are gradually getting settled in. It is hard to get used to doing all the necessary things, like bleaching fruits and vegetables and filtering water, etc. It isn't bad, just different.

Now, I need to concentrate on getting back to work for WorldVenture and doing the Senegal team bookkeeping.

We appreciate your prayers for us as the heat and humidity make it difficult, especially when the power goes off.

Well, hopefully it won't be so long until the next blog update.

Aunt Ramona