Hi Everyone--
Hopefully soon, our hot, humid season will be ending and we'll be able to breathe right again.  It just gets downright miserable during this time of the year.  Once it cools off it still gets hot sometimes, but not as humid which makes a big difference.

On Sunday mornings we go to church a Dakar Academy.  Our worship times are really a blessing.  If you would like to view one of the services, please click on this link.  You can tell how hot it is by all the fans waving in the service!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGCvlP_CUJ0

Where We Live

Hi Everyone,
I just thought I'd share some pics of our home here in Africa.  God has been good to us in providing us with Dakar Academy housing.  In the past we have lived in the homes of missionaries who have been on Home Assignment.  However, starting last January 2013 until now we are living in an apartment provided by DA.  So when we came back here in August, we didn't have to move and that was a very good feeling!  Our apartment is off campus, but a short walk to DA, so that is good.

I'm also going to include some pictures from a building project that is going on right outside our living room window.  Our apartment is on the second floor and right now they are building an apartment building and have reached the second floor.  One of these days we will be looking right into someone's apartment!

It has been interesting watching the guys work.  All the foundations, etc. are dug by hand.  Also, the bricks are handmade right in front of our apartment building.  They also mix the cement by hand.  They work really hard all day long!

Love,
Aunt Ramona

Front View of Our Apartment Building

View from Our Rooftop

Combination Living Room/Dining Room

My Office Desk is Part of the Living Room

Our Bedroom (we usually each have a fan blowing

on us but during the day

one is used elsewhere in the apartment)

Our Kitchen (very nice and fairly modern)

Beginning of Building Project

Walls Partially Up on First Floor

Second Floor View From Our Living Room Window

Making Bricks

Life Back in the States

Hi all--
I am so sorry it has been so long since I have updated my blog!  Things have really been busy since our last time in the States.

Spring Break 2013 - Took a trip to Europe
June - JSB & Graduation at DA (Jim took 500 pictures of both events)
June 7 - Flew home to the US
June 9 - Family Reunion & Graduation Party for son Matt
June 17 - 27 - Road Trip to New England for Jim's neice's wedding (Alexis & David)
June 28 - July 15 - Time in Colorado visiting friends and supporters
July 15- July 23 - San Antonio seeing Jason, Tina, Caleb, Sierra & Marisela, attending a DA graduate's wedding, then driving to Phoenix to see my mom
Home in Colorado
August 6 - Fly to Dakar

As you can see it has been a busy, but short time here.  There are a few things we have really been enjoying since we've been back. 

• Drinking and brushing our teeth with unfiltered water
• Enjoying fresh fruits and vegetables without having to soak in bleach solution
• Fresh Peaches, Blueberries, Raspberries
• Bacon & Sausage
• MEXICAN FOOD
• Steak
• Walking on a paved or gravel road instead of sand

 We do miss our friends and co-workers in Senegal and our Senegalese friends, but it is nice to have the modern conveniences for awhile.  Even though we do miss these things, we most certainly do live a lot better than most people in Senegal. 

God has really blessed us and we do consider our home to be in Senegal now.

Attached are a few pics from our time so far in the US.

Love,
Aunt Ramona

On the Atlantic Coast in New Hampshire

Enjoying lobster

Jim's lobster was so big that brother-in-law Paul 

had to use a hammer to break it open

Jim & I with David and Alexis

Location of wedding reception at an old mill restaurant

Fun pic of family on old bridge

Ramona at Niagra Falls

Niagra Falls in daytime

Niagra Falls at night

Looking across to Canada from Niagra Falls, USA

I just wanted to write a little bit about our maid, M'Bayang.  To us, she isn't just a maid, but a friend.  She has been with us since we first arrived in Senegal.  If you can recall, a couple of years ago her husband died leaving her to raise their two young children, Sandra, now 9 and Ricky, now 5. 

M'Bayang works very hard at two jobs as a maid and also is the national in charge of the center that WorldVenture has for talibe boys.  She is a very special Christian young woman who has a real heart for helping the boys who need so much.

We are very proud of M'Bayang and how she is raising her children in the Christian faith!  Please continue to pray for her as she has a lot of responsibilities.

Here is a picture of her family that we took recently at DA.

Happenings

Hi all--
So many things have happened since I wrote last May; can it possibly be that long since I've updated my blog??!!  Some of the things that have happened:

• June 6 - Flew to the US
• June 16 - Drove to Arizona to see my mom, then drove to San Antonio
• June 23 - Jason was married to Tina in San Antonio
• July 3 - First total knee replacement
• September 16 - Second knee replacement
• Lots of physical therapy and hard work recovering from both surgeries
• Many lunch, dinner, & breakfast meetings with friends and supporters
• October - Jim, recruiting trip back East ending with hitting a deer and totaling our car
• God provided a new, used vehicle from insurance money and some additional money
• Thanksgiving with our son Matt and his wife Courtney and her folks visiting from Mississippi
• Christmas all together with Jason, Tina & her daughter Marisela coming from San Antonio and Caleb and Sierra flying in from New Jersey!
• Preparing our church team for their short-term trip to Senegal

Jim and I were just looking at the calendar and realized that we haven't even been back in Senegal for a month yet and how much has happened since we got here!

Speaker at Evening Evangelism

Village scene

Drama Team

 

Nazarene Church where painting, cement floor and mural were being done

 

Village boys

Mural inside church being painted by DA students

A horse, donkey, two pigs and a chicken all in one pose!

Hannah Yashashi playing with village children

Mike Harrison from our church with little girl who climbed up in his lap

Evening Evangelism Program

 

 

 We're happy to be back, but are still catching up with sleep and work!

Love,
Aunt Ramona

P.S.  I've attached some additional pictures from the DA Outreach 2013