Thursday, November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving :)

I want to wish you all a happy thanksgiving with your family and friends :)
I wanted to share a fun poem I found with all of you:

May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
Have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize,
And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs!

~Author Unknown

We all enjoyed a beautiful feast at the Kennell's house with all the other missionary families :) We brought a beautiful pecan pie, pie crust thanks to Bethany and Filling (with homemade corn syrup by Bethany) thanks to Jacque!

We're heading to Lome for the weekend, so I'm going to go pack! Hope you enjoy the holiday :)

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Harmattan


To everything- turn turn turn
There is a season- turn turn turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven


A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep


A time to build up, a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones
A time to gather stones together


A time of war, a time of peace
A time of love, a time of hate
A time you may embrace
A time to refrain from embracing


A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew



-The Byrds
(Ecclesiastes 3)

The last three pictures above are from the last storm of rainy season. The first two are of a beautiful sunset thanks to the dusty season that has arrived. The harmattan is here and with it the roads are dustier and everything is drying out.. It was such a sudden change. The nights are much cooler in the upper 50s (F) and the days aren't humid like before, but they still reach temperatures in the upper 90s (F). As the harmattan came, so did illness... Today it seemed as if the whole schoolhouse was full of sickness. I have a bad cold that came on suddenly a couple days ago, and it is starting to let up some-- I'm pretty sure it was caused by the change in seasons.
Other than the changes in the seasons there have been so many changes taking place in adapting to life here. The normalcy of everything in particular amazes me at this point. I know what to expect for the most part and when to expect the unexpected even.. Even as I become accustomed to day to day life here, I find myself still being amazed at the different climate I now find myself living in. Lately I have been missing family and friends from the states more and missing the seasons the states has to offer with the layered clothing and the bulky jackets and the falling leaves or snow to jump in. The seasons here still change, but in such a foreign way to me..

Saturday, November 7, 2009

A Day in My Life

Here are some more pictures of my day to day life here in Togo:


My bed is on the left with the green cover... (I should take a new photo since I now have pictures hung above the foot of my bed and a trunk at the head of the bed with a lamp and books. Until I post a new photo however, you will have to imagine it.)


Our Kitchen, with our little fridge where I awake to make myself a quick bowl of oatmeal most mornings :) Unless one of my kind roommates has decided to make pancakes or some other delicious morning treat! (Honestly this photo was taken a while ago, our microwave is no longer on top of the fridge and we have a seasonal tablecloth on our table now as well as a few additional pictures put up on our walls. Again I encourage the use of your imaginations!!!)



The pathway to my Kindergarten Class, I often feel as if I walk in a daze to my classroom most mornings as I go to unlock the door.


After school is over I lock up my classroom and go up to the roof to grab random laundry on a typical sunny day.


This is the view of our front gate from the roof. If you look just to the left of our gate in the street there is a burn pile that our neighbors use-- often sending smoke into our apartment. Or on occasion into our classrooms...

The typical afternoon we have a couple hours of down time after school before we all get picked up in a car like the one in the picture below.

Depending on the day we go to different families homes for dinners or other team gatherings.

This picture was taken after one of our women prayer times... Jacque had me take several photos since it looked like a car commercial... This is the SUV that can take you anywhere in the rough African terrain, even through the muddy and bumpy back roads.. Yes, even all the way to our own schoolhouse door!

Here are some fun pictures from a fun girls night at the Kennell's house:




This girls night was at the Kennell's where we celebrated Lisa's birthday and we had a makeover night. Everyone had their feet washed and Maddie and Abby gave Bethany and I makeovers :)