Happy Easter!

The Phenomenon of Henna

About a month ago (yeah, I know, I said a month ago), I had henna done to celebrate Jeremy's return from Lebanon. It is very customary for a wife to do henna when her husband returns from traveling. It is considered beautiful, even...sexy. So, since we are adapted (or still adapting) to North African culture, I thought it would be fun to do henna with my friends. I decided to pay the extra $4 to have the professional henna ladies come to my house. To get it done in the marketplace I am sure is a very cultural experience, but I am not brave enough. As you can see from the above picture you must twist & turn in various positions. A white woman getting henna done can be a very interesting and exciting event in the life of the marketplace (so I am told from my foreign friends). One can draw a significant crowd, therefore, I opted for a more low-key henna experience from the comfort of my own home. It takes about 4 hours from start to finish, so you must block off some time. Joy decided to join me at times, making it even more interesting to keep all of it from smearing while it was drying. The patience & time pays off because you are left with some very pretty designs on your hands & feet. Henna stays on for about 3 weeks.

Yesterday!!

Do you ever have those moments when you really feel like you have made a difference?? Sometimes it feels few and far between, EVEN when you live in Africa! A lot of times here, I struggle, much like you, to make moments count, take time to notice little things, not get caught up in daily life activities, and not ALWAYS feel like I need a nap! I get discouraged over the millionth time of "saying it the wrong way" in Arabic, I get mad when I see poverty that could be averted, and, I admit, look forward to the kids going to bed for some "peace & quiet".

However, yesterday, I was encouraged. Yesterday, I made a difference. Yesterday, you made a difference. Yesterday, the Lord was glorified. Yesterday, me and the 4 ladies who work with me at Little Stars handicapp center, headed over to the handicapp school to gather 10 students to come for 2 hours and play at our center. We do this 2 times a week, and they always send one of their teachers with the kids. We try to love the kids, show them grace when they mess up, and tell the teachers that we don't hit or yell at the kids to obey us. We also spend time doing games, crafts and activities with the kids-to show the teachers that these kids CAN succeed, CAN have fun, and DON'T just have to sit in a room staring at the wall all day.

Like I said, we walked into the school and there was a group of the kids sitting outside playing-first of all, that was unique. They are hardly ever outside in a group playing, especially the more difficult ones. As we watched them, we realized they were playing "Duck, Duck, Goose"-a game we had taught them at the center!! Of course, they call it "CAT, CAT, Bird" One of the teachers had remembered the game and was doing it with the kids.

Now, you may think, wow, big deal. But, to us, it is. We are seeing our work, our dedication, our love for these kids coming back around to them from their own teachers. We are seeing something we have never seen there before!!! To us, Yesterday, was a great day. Yesterday was a day to be excited about. Never, ever did I think that the game, "Cat, Cat, Bird" would take one so much meaning for me.

Sayings of a 3 year old...Viewer Discretion Advised

What I hear from Ezra's bedroom where he is playing:
"Horn Horn...Horn Horn!" (Ezra's interpretation of the usual sound, "beep beep")

Then,
Ezra: "Mommy, hurry, come here!"
Me: "What is wrong, Ezra?"
Ezra: "Hurry, mommy, come look at Percy & Thomas (his toy trains)...they are horny!"
Me: "They are horny!!?"
Ezra: "Yes, all the trains and cars are horny!"
Me: "Well, I have never seen horny trains and cars! (leading him on-terrible mother)
Ezra: "Yes, mommy, we always see horny cars when we go to the store!"


It was too funny to resist posting-sorry for those of you who are offended...

How to carry your babydoll...

Like Habsa..
Or like Mama!

Attempt at a Family Christmas Picture

What does it say about our family that the only decent family picture is in front of FOOD!!

Joy's introduction to Santa Claus

"Who are you leaving me with, mom?"
"No, please, I don't deserve this!"
"It isn't worth the bag of candy!"
"There better be something good in that bag of yours..."

Our Mini Christmas party!

Playing with some friends in our "play area".
All the kids enjoyed our toys
Habsa helps me around the house, and these are her kids, and nieces & nephews.
We frosted Christmas cookies together-the kids loved that!
Swinging outside

Ezra's Christmas Program at School

Ezra & his friend, Joseph-the 2 blondies!

Outside the door to his classroom
One of his teachers, and you can see his classroom in the background.

The Christmas program consisted of each class singing some songs in French-you can see Ezra in the corner holding the post. He DID NOT want to go up there, but was bribed by mom to have cake and juice afterwards...he ended up mouthing the words of the song!

Little Stars Update

I published some pictures of our first few days in "Little Stars". Wow, and whew! That explains in 3 words how it is going! We opened with a bang and after our first day, I think all 3 of us women that work there, looked at each other and thought, "what did we get ourselves into??"
None of us are specifically trained in this area, other than volunteer time, interest and love for kids. Our first day was a bit challenging, the director of the school that we are partnering with gave us his "hardest" kids. I am not sure if it was a challenge to us to see if we would return, or what. We managed to have a fun time and I am pretty sure the kids had a blast. The school sends over one teacher with the kids each time-probably to watch over our curriculum and the kids. She LOVED what we did and kept making comments about the kind of games and crafts we did, and how we interacted with the kids. We hope that we are indirectly doing "teacher training" also. There are a few kids the teachers keep telling us are too stupid to do anything and "just leave them in the corner." Of course, we don't do that. And, I think the teachers are noticing that there is potential in some of the kids to progress.

We finished our first few days each time with a "wow, that went well!" followed by a "whew, I am exhausted!" Not only is working with these kids challenging, but we face other challenges too-trying to talk with them their uneducated, street Arabic dialect, non handicap-accessible rooms, stairs, sand roads, no doors on the kitchen (which is proven to be quite a popular room for the kids, unfortunately), and the art of squatty potties for the kids with physical handicaps.
All in all, though, we are praising the Lord for this opportunity! It is so rewarding for us and we will keep you updated in the future. We have been able to rent some land next door to open up for outdoor activities, we just need to clean it up a bit...hopefully, in the next few weeks we can use it.

Here are some pictures from Little Stars!

We made a Christmas tree for craft time!
We play games like tossing bean bags & limbo...
..to "red light, green light."
Here is our craft room, we decorated picture frames and took a polaroid picture of each child.
Starting the frames with the kids.

Say "cheese!"

I am pretty!

Having fun with the camera!

Our Thanksgiving

Eating a nice meal with our team
Ezra enjoyed painting his arms, but then freaked out a few seconds later

Both kids enjoyed painting turkey placemats for our thanksgiving team dinner

A few pics of our city from downtown

Looking into town and out to the Atlantic Ocean
If you look in the distance beyond town, you can see the outline of the shanty town in the dunes

The largest mosque in downtown.

10 Stories Up

I found it today..that one place where you can go and "get away" from it all. It has taken awhile here, in fact, about 2 years. Those of you who have lived/traveled to another culture know what I am talking about. That place where you can go and reflect, where you don't feel like the tall, blond, foreign-speaking, wealthy woman amid those so different from yourself. Where you aren't constantly being stared at or listened to while you sit down and drink a cup of coffee...which happens to be fascinating if your skin is white. I hope this doesn't sound too cynical or ethnocentric, because I don't mean to be. I just mean that every once in awhile it is nice to not be the focus. There is another reason why it took me awhile to find that place here. Because it is brand new! It is a gorgeous new building that is 10 stories tall, which is the tallest building by far in our city (except I think the Saudi mosque minarets might be a little taller). You can ride an elevator to the top floor and in the mornings it is a coffee shop. Jeremy & I arrived there at around 9:30am and we were told that it wasn't quite open yet, just a few more minutes. So, I guess by "open in the mornings" I actually mean mid-morning by American standards.

There is a great view of the city, which we have never seen. When you live in the desert and there are no mountains or tall buildings, you aren't really sure what the actual city looks like. It was incredible to be able to see different parts of town...the presidential palace, the slums of basra all the way to the ocean and beyond town towards the open desert dunes. It was quiet too, with the hum of the usual city noises; car horns, merchants selling things, donkeys braying (ok, not all cities have that). There was even a balcony where the wind was gently blowing. It was calm, it was peaceful and it was deserted. There was no one there. It was refreshing. And there was new perspective gained. When I was looking at the city from high above, I saw how limited my perspective is when I am in the thick of things. Jeremy pointed to a section of town called "Marche Capital" where it is known to have the worst traffic; it didn't look so bad from 10 stories up. We saw a lot of trees around the city, granted, most of them around the embassies. The people down below scurried about their business...you know, they looked just like people from the top of the Hancock building in Chicago or the Empire State building in New York. Of course, physically they looked different but that isn't what I am talking about. I mean, they were all going about their lives, doing what needed to be done at that moment in time. Worried about their families, working at their jobs, talking to their friends; being human.

It is good to be reminded of humanity. It is good to be reminded to gain new perspective every once in while. It is refreshing to take time out and see things anew. The time looking out on the city from 10 stories up not only gave me some time to "get away" but also made me realize that inner refreshment doesn't need to be 10 stories up, it can be in a quiet place reflecting on the Lord. Do you ever forget that? Are you ever like me and go about your days doing "good" and being busy and forget about that needed inner refreshment? Does the little daily chores sometimes make you feel like you are drowning? Is there a place you can go "10 stories up" and gain new perspective? Believe me, it is well worth it.

Of course, we can't stay 10 stories up forever. I came back down, walked out the door and was again transformed into the tall, blond, white-skinned lady. The traffic looked bad again, the hawkers went to work on me with their merchandise, and it seemed like there was a lot of trash and sand again. However, with a new perspective and some inner peace, I am taking it in stride.
At least for today.

Ezra's Exclamations

'Spiderman' helping mommy with the cupcakes.

After driving by "The Candy Shop" and realizing that is was closed (after I had promised some candy to the kids..oops) Ezra says to me; "Mommy, I wish the candy shop was in Ezra's house."



Don't we all, Ezra, don't we all...

Our Two New Projects have started!!

Talking through strategy and working on the design.

Jeremy and some of his workers at the Trike Workshop

Our new place for "Little Stars".

En Route

Ezra reluctantly trudging back to the car.

Ezra teaches Joy the right way to drink a Pepsi.

Our kids stretching their legs while taking a break from the 6 hour car ride.

Joy looking for some shells/rocks to eat.

Our Trip to Senegal

We swam on average 5 hours a day!!

Ezra & Joy took a swim break to eat some yummy french fries.

Some of our team members

Steph & Ezra playing together

Jeremy & Joy watching the sunset

The Sun setting over the Atlantic ocean.