Happy Easter!

Easter morning with Ezra and Joy

Easter dinner was chicken alfredo with bacon, fresh broccoli, and fresh mushrooms. Yum!

Ezra hunting for his candy-filled Easter eggs in our front yard.


Ezra painting Easter eggs with some of our American friends.

"Little Stars" Activity Center for cognitively impaired kids is almost official! We have rented the facility and are starting to paint, clean, organize and remodel it. We are aiming for a May 1st opening, although we are not sure if that will happen,remember-TIA (This Is Africa)! Here are some before pictures, I will post some after pics in a few weeks!

On Saturday, some kids came to help paint the center. It was a fun morning and we were able to finish one whole room!

Recently, Jeremy was able to finish the swingset for Ezra & Joy. They LOVE swinging and Ezra really enjoys his "fort".

Elections!

Sunday is an important day for us. It is the first democratic presidential elections in the country's history. Campaigning has a distinct nomadic, Saharan feel to it, as all of the candidates have erected large tents all over town to promote themselves. We have been listening to loud music late into the night, and are enjoying the tangible excitement of the people as they anticipate this historic day.

Truckboarding...

What do you do if you enjoy wakeboarding, but don't have a boat? You go "truckboarding"! We have recently been introduced to the sport and love it! You hook the 120ft rope to a pole mounted on the top of a Land Cruiser, wade on out past the waves and take off! If you look closely, you can see the rider just past the breakers.

Take me out to the ballgame...

In case any of you thought that Jeremy's life is all work and no play (really? nobody thinks that?), here he is pictured with his softball team that competed last weekend in the West African Invitational Softball Tournament in Dakar, Senegal. They were sponsored by the local Mexican restaurant in town, and did pretty well, only barely missing the playoffs.

Happy Valentines Day!

Some call the desert romantic, but it definitely isn't in the Hallmark sense of the word. There are no flower shops, gift stores or supermarkets selling specialty items to mark the day. Someone imported roses last year, but as of yesterday afternoon, there were no roses in sight. So, on this day of love, I decided to make an oversized cookie for my Valentine, like I did on our first Valentines Day in Papua New Guinea in 1995. I love you Steph!

Still Working...

I still haven't finished the playset that was started back before Christmas. But, I was able to work some this week on it, with my trusty laborer Ezra. He enjoyed working with me and "driving" some nails with his plastic hammer! It should be really fun for the kids when it is all done.

POWERGYM UPDATE:

It has been awhile since we have updated all of you on the Power Gym. We have switched women's hours to 3 times a week in the evening. After only one week, it seems to be a good move. The locals are not "morning people" by any stretch of the imagination, and no women were coming in the mornings. Already, we have around 10 new women! I (Steph) am teaching an aerobics class. We hope that this change will help bring in more women and give me more opportunities to develop relationships. The gym is becoming quite popular among men now. Jeremy has had 60 new memberships/renewals last month alone! He continues to enjoy the relationships he has there.

Happy Birthday Steph!

Today (February 1) is Steph's birthday! I thank the Lord for blessing me with such a beautiful, compassionate and selfless wife. Happy birthday!

Happy Birthday Jeremy!

The 24th was Jeremy's birthday. Most of the day seemed to revolve around good food, which is just the way he likes it, including grilled bacon-wrapped shrimp for dinner! I made him a cake, and Ezra and Joy decorated the tablecloth under my supervision. I also had a local calligrapher write out one of Jeremy's favorite Bible verses (Lamentations 3:22,23) in fancy Arabic script for his birthday gift.

Taste Test

My motorcycle battery needed re-charging, so I headed down to the part of town that deals with that sort of thing. I found a place quickly, but right away I found myself in a disagreement on what liquid was needed to top off the battery. I argued that distilled water was necessary, while the mechanic at the shop insisted that it needed battery acid. The mechanic seeing that we were at an impasse, opened one of the battery terminals poured some of its contents onto his finger, and then licked his finger. He then looked at me confidently and said "it's acid". Hard to argue with that...

Sandstorm!

Upon our return to North Africa, we were greeted with one of the worst sandstorms we have had since we arrived.

Algeria

We got a chance to spent about three days in Algeria on the way to and from Tunisia. Air Algeria even paid for our three nights in a nice hotel with meals, so it became a very cheap way to see a new country! Highlights of the trip included a trip to Tipaza (Roman ruins), a delicious dinner at an Indian restaurant, as well as enjoying the beautiful Algerian countryside. We took this night shot of Algiers with the Martyr's monument in the background.

Tipaza, Algeria

While in Algeria, we got to visit Tipaza, the ruins of an ancient Roman town built right on the Mediterranean Sea. It was a beautiful day, and we had a great time climbing around and seeing the ruins of churches, temples, roads, baths and houses.

Fun in Tunisia

We rented ATVs one day for a few hours and did some off-roading in the hills behind Sousse. Check out our helmets! :)