NUTS...2009

It is that time of year, again! It is time for NUTS! Are we crazy playing all this softball in 100 degree heat? In Indiana, they would probably just cancel the tourny, but not us crazy people. We began the day last Friday with a pep session at school just before our social team took the field. The whole school was on the lawn cheering all three teams Sahel entered. We had a record 16 teams in the tournament this year. It was a challenge to get all the games in before darkness hit. Saturday night was a close call as darkness descended on us quite rapidly. I think we played the last inning in virtual darkness. 


Of course, you must remember that our competitive team were the defending champs from 2008. Of course our team has changed dramatically due to graduation and home assignments. We had, I think 3 guys on last years' team play this year, besides myself. But, we had a great group of guys and girls who played some great defense throughout the tourny. We, however, started the tourny with the poorest permormance of all time committing many errors and lost 13-10. We were all a bit disappointed about that, but realized that if we could win the next 2, we would be first in our pool. So, that is what we did. Although our defense returned, our offense took a rest in a very hard fought 5-4 victory over a team from Burkina. The hero in that game was Betsie Childs who came up with a clutch hit to drive in the winning run! It was rather exciting as we turned a couple of double plays which is hard to do against those athleic, fast Africans. 

The final game started out just how we wanted it to, taking a 7-0 lead just to see that evaporate by the last inning. We didn't score at all the 3-5 inning, but came up with a bit run in the bottom of the 6th to take the one run lead. Then defense took over. With the tying run on base, two outs, a ground ball was hit right to Betsie who couldn't come up with a clean scoop and throw out. Rather, she deflected the ball right to second base where Tim Smith, our shortstop picked it up and literally rolled to the base to force the runner out. Tim was seen more than once crawling towards the base to make a big play. That was the game, not quite as dramatic tourney overall like last year, but nonetheless very sweet. The thing I love most about this team was the fact that everyone contributed something at different times to make it a success. I love this team!

Our other 2 social teams did quite well as well. They both bowed out of the tourney during the semi's, but played very well. I was especially proud of the younger team who just played with heart. If you could have practiced with them about 3 weeks ago, you would have thought how in the world this team would even win one game. But, they played so together, it was an inspiration to us all. Well done, Sahel Academy! Go Suns! Now, anyone outside of Sahel community and can tell me the what NUTS stands for, I will blog your smartness on the next blog!

Lions, Tigers, and Bears...no, Giraffes!

We were able to go outside of Niamey and drive all over the place to find a dozen or so Giraffes out in the wild. The kids were fascinated at how tall they were. We were amazed at how calm they are. With us just walking all around them, they didn't seem too nervous with us there. One time, I think Janice was backing up to one for a photo and the giraffe got a little nervous and bent his head down as if we was going to lick the top of Janice's head. Hopefully all these picks will load up quickly today so you can see some of what we saw. It was a bit funny because this is the only place in the world where you will find giraffes in the wild. I at being said, they are "protected". They also charge you to go out to where they are. I would think that if they are in the wild, then anyone can go at anytime to go see them. Although I will say that there is no way I would have found my way around out there without the guide. Poor guy sat on top of our truck in 100 degree heat and pointed with a stick at the direction I should go. After finding 2 big old giraffes right away, we found a herd of them 10 minutes later. After much driving around again looking for another herd, we gave up because the kids were getting a bit antsy. You can see our guide up in the top of a tree looking for the heads of giraffes over the tops of trees, but he couldn't spot any. So, after we began to go back home, we almost ran into 2 more. All in all, we saw around 1 dozen giraffes. One funny thing that Mikaylah did say was that she was very sure that Noah did not take any Giraffes on the ark because he couldn't build a boat tall enough for them!

The Boy

Last June when we said goodbye to our three seniors and "see you later" to the rest of the dorm kids Jayson was a boy of few words.  He would say Mama, Daddy, Layla and  "Ha Yoen".  But he would not say any of the other dorm kids names.  He would say "bonjour" to our house workers, and he would respond to questions by nodding his head or saying "no!"  But that was about it.  I was a little worried because I had big plans to potty train him when we got back from our trip to Burkina Faso, and I wasn't sure how much he understood.  Our colleagues Colin and Teena and their 2 year old son (who is almost three months YOUNGER than Jayson) had just been up to Niamey to visit and Ethan was talking in Dinde and in French and in English AND he was going on the toilet too!!!

We went to Burkina Faso and Jayson learned a new word, Ouagadougou... okay now you try to say it... wa ga do goo... not so hard,   just like baby talk right??  Well this started a trend, he began to rapidly add words to his growing vocabulary... in fact in the last three and a half months he has not only learned words, but is now speaking in full sentences!  AND he is going to the potty!! YAY!!

When the kids came back to school Jayson calmly greeted them all by name!!  The kids were shocked and delighted.  He even asked about the graduates, wanting to know when they were coming home...
Now that Jayson has discovered language he has not stopped!!  He is very descriptive. Waking up in the morning, he comes to me with wonder still all over his face, "Mama, I waked up!" Coming in from outside, "Mama I am home!!",  "Mama get out, I need privacy!" He was doing his business on the toilet, "Okay Mama, you can wipe me now." But he isn't always very polite!! 

 However when ever I scold him he immediately looks at the ground and says "Sorry Mama", whether or not he is sorry it still gets the desired result! and he is good at stalling at bedtime too... "I need cold water!"  and "I need a hug and a kiss" and "Nighty Poo, Don't poo in your nighty!"

August!

It is August so Mikaylah announced that she is ready for school!!  She is SO excited to begin Kindergarten!!  We had to tell her that school doesn't really start until August 12!!  And the dorm kids arrive August 11!  She is very excited about that, and Jayson started naming the kids who will be returning!  He was only saying one name when they left in June, now he recognizes their pictures and is saying their names!!  I think the kids will be surprised!  So we are ready for them (emotionally) but we still have a to do list that needs to be accomplished before next week arrives!  Staff meetings start this week.  and Monday and Tuesday are national holidays!!  so we are again understaffed but have plenty of work to do :)  

We have just heard that our short term dorm assistant Cindy has raised enough funds and is 100 % supported!  Hopefully she will be here by September.  She still has to get a visa, shots, etc.  But we are excited that she is on her way!!  Anybody have any new recipes I can try?  Remember that we only have access to basic ingredients...

Eight Years and counting...

We have just celebrated our eighth wedding anniversary. We were remembering that after our honey moon in Canada we crossed the border into the US on August 5, 2001. Janice was fingerprinted and cross-examined and finally allowed to enter US soil on humanitary grounds!! One month later we had a celebration in Kokomo, Indiana so Tim's friends who couldn't make it to the wedding could meet Janice. Two days later, nine eleven happened and some of Janice's family who came from Canada for the Kokomo reception were stuck in Indiana for a few days as no one was being allowed to cross the border!!! Great timing for us, if we were six weeks later in crossing the border they may not have let Janice in!!!

Last day of school etc.

The last day of school was actually a week long... including grad banquet, graduation and Leaving Day.  Just some photos for your perusal!!

Graduation

Tam, Philip and Esther
Yes, we had four graduates today... Philip, Tam and Esther graduated from Highschool and Mikaylah graduated from preschool! We had a great day. Mikaylah's celebration was in the morning. The teacher had the children demonstrate what they do in the classroom each day. I was surprised that Mikaylah understood so much French. They did some simple phonics and sang some songs. It was fun. She will miss her little friends but will be going to Kindergarten in August. So far there are ten kids signed up to be in her class at Sahel.

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Our three big kids started walking down the aisle at 7pm. The weather cooperated and we had a beautiful evening outside. Daniel Meade gave the staff tribute to the seniors and did a wonderful job. Our speaker, Tim Tjosvold challenged both the seniors and the rest of us. Each of the graduates gave a speech to thank important people in their lives and to tell us where they were planning to go in the future. Each senior did an admirable job! We were especially proud of our three! After the ceremony there was cake and celebrating in the dining hall. Everyone was having a great time and no one wanted it to end!
Pray for our three as they leave Niger. Both Tam and Phil are going to the United States. Tam to PA to attend Eastern and Phil to NY to Elim. Esther is hoping to go back to Korea.
Pray as they say good bye to their friends here and anticipate the future. Pray that they will each stay faithful. We are so thankful that each one has dedicated his or her life to the Lord.

Car Pooling...African Style

Just thought I would share a photo that was passed on to me through email. I don't know where it was taken. Thanks Kathryn for the photo. While we have not seen any trucks this crowded, it is not unusual to see trucks that are poorly loaded, or loaded about 10 feet too high, listing to one side and yet there are tons of people hitching rides ON TOP of the whole load. Very scary looking and dangerous, but it is just a way of life out here. 

May Showers???

Well Mother's day has come and gone and we still haven't had a rain to register on the rain guage.  According to Dorm Tradition, there is a pool every year to see who can guess the date of the first rain!  Of the 15 of us, 9 days have come and gone.  Today is Phil's day, but I think he will be disappointed too.  Nat guessed May fourteen, Esther the 15th, Tim the 19th, Tam the 22nd and Mi-Yoen the 26th of May.  I had guessed May 10th, Mother's day, I thought it was appropriate, but we are still dry... a little humid (50% yesterday) but still no rain.  The school year is quickly coming to a close.  Mi-Yoen is our only student writing IGCSE exams this year, she has two this week and three next week, then the end of the year exams begin the 26th of May!  Graduation is scheduled for the fourth of June!   I know the time will go by quickly!!  It is very hot as you can see from our thermometer on the left... please pray that relief will come quickly!  When it is hot tempers can flare up easily and everyone is a little more emotional at the end of the school year, please pray especially for our three seniors, Esther, Tamarah and Phil who will be leaving Niger this summer to pursue further studies abroad (the US for Tam and Phil and Korea for Esther).  Pray for their transition (saying goodbye to their homes and friends and families) and for their adjustment abroad (new schools, church and friends).

Birthday Blowout!

I finally got this thing to load up. I wasn't sure it even did it at the beginning, so we were hearing from the lands of good internet connections that they had seen Mikaylah's birthday cake meltdown. I guess it did load. Hope you all who can, enjoy the video. 

Another Birthday party!

Before Mikaylah's birthday, there was another birthday party our kids went to for Ariel and Bennet McIver. These are kids who met ours in Quebec during language study. Their dad is like a little boy at times and loves to build and have fun. So, he constructed this obstacle course for the kids, complete with 2 zip lines. One for the young ones and one for a slightly older. This first pic is of Jayson coming out of the "tunnel". He had a great time with almost everything. You can scroll down to see how the end of his zipline went. We was ok, until he stopped. At that point, the 

kids were supposed to drop into a       pool and get all wet. Jayson thought that if he dropped, he would be hurt, so he hung out until someone came to rescue him! I think he must get that from falling off the playgroud equipment here at school so many times:)  

Mikaylah thoroughly enjoyed her time there. She went around that obstacle course a dozen times or more. It was a hot day, so they really enjoyed themselves.

Incidentally, this is when my cell phone was stolen right in front of the guards! Only in Africa, I think:) Praise God, the perps didn't get the wallet that was sitting in the pocket next to the phone! The phone was easily replaced, with the same number even! 

This blog is really for all my canoeing buddies back home. Muskrat, I hope you log onto this to see these pics. 3 years ago, I almost put a small canoe or kayak on the container that came out here. At that time, because I didn't have total knowledge of our mission finances, I hesitated, then decided not to bring one. In hindsight, I should have pulled the trigger. I usually go canoeing at least once a month while in Indiana because of all the great creeks and rivers in that beautiful state. But, since being here, there is one river to choose from and that one is used by all. The Niger River.

You can see from the pics that we shy away from normal tents on these trips because of the heat. I slept under a mosquito net on the sand. I laid down a ground cover, rolled out my sleeping bag that just came on the container and fully expected to sleep just on top on the bag using it for only a cushion. However, during the night, a rather cool breeze kicked up and caused me to climb in my 50+ sleeping bag to keep warm. I suspect that most of you North Americans just coming off winter would not have done that. It was a beautiful night to sleep.

we put in down in Tera about an hour drive from Niamey and we had lofty goals to make roughly a 62 kilometer trek in a day in a half to land right on the back side of our campus. We pushed off around 2:30 in the afternoon only to face a fairly stiff wind. We had a place in mind to camp for the night because one of the guys scouted out a place from his plane the week before. The current on the Niger does flow, but not that fast as compared to the smaller rivers to which I have grown accustomed. So, you have a current with the wind, as soon as you stopped paddling just to look at things, if you didn't go backwards, you stopped dead still. Very frustrating because when one person stopped to take a drink or just to take a break, the other had a lot of work to do.
The girl you see pictured is Charity Bliss, who was my canoe buddy for the whole trip. We rode in a homemade canoe that was made in Ghana. Very nice riding canoe, although I am glad that there weren't too many rocks out there because I hated to hit anything for fear of scratching it. But, it rode so nicely. I would have loved to see what that thing could do on a calm day. Needless to say, we didn't make it as far as we thought we should because of the wind. Very slow. As darkness settled upon us, we had to begin looking for an island on which to camp. Of course, after passing so many islands, when we needed one, we couldn't find one. So, we kept going. The good thing is, is that the wind died down, so it got a bit easier. The down side is that we were paddling after dark. That is bad because the river was on its way down and you never know where the rocks are and you never know where the hippos that look like rocks are! As we came upon this one island that seemed to stretch out for 3 k, we saw many, many hippo tracks up on the island that we thought would not be a good camp spot because the hippos were already there. Hippos do not make for great sleepovers!

Anyway, as we were quietly paddling along this island, it was just about dark. You know where the water looks black and you can only see the fires of the Africans burning to cook their suppers. All of a sudden, this huge snort sounds very close to us to the left. And what do we see? A huge hippo rising some out of the water only about half way to shore. Needless to say, we all found some needed energy. There is only one thing worse than seeing a hippo go under the water, and that is not knowing where he will surface! Yes, Hippos are herbivores, unless they are really hungry or we have come between mommy and baby. With all the stories of those things and the amount of people who are killed by them every year, we like to keep our distance.

The next day was more of the same. You see Chris Chamberlain waking in a tent that lost its poles in the middle of the night. I am sure he will love me posting this picture! It was great to be able to get paddling again. I didn't realize just how much I miss it. Only to have my kayak here. Although, if I did, I would think that would draw lots of attention from the Africans.

Birthday, part 3

Just thought you would enjoy the remaining few pics of Mikaylah's birthday. You can see who helped make the cake and who helped eat it. Jayson really enjoyed the beaters. Gone are the days of pappa getting those, I think:) That is ok, though.

Mikaylah loved being a princess all day that day. She was just so much fun to watch. How she included everyone, especially the few kids who were there to share all her new toys, including the tent! She loved to share all her new toys, dolls, etc with Lydia. Jayson is a bit of a different story, but she is working very hard on that account. We are certainly blessed to have these two kids. They are very precious to us and they bring us many many smiles and much laughter!

Slippy Slidy Sleepover!

yes, we have made it to the wonderful world of sleepovers with Mikaylah. Jayson thought he should be included as well, but we made him to go bed and let the girls be girls. These two girls had just the best time sleeping in our new tent which we just got off a container not more than 6 days before Mikaylah's birthday! More on that later. I have no idea if they really got any sleep, but they said they did....some.
Now Mikaylah with her cake. She did help to decorate her cake. I still have even more pictures of Mikaylah sprinkling the cake with her special sprinkles, Jayson licking the beater and that yummy chocalate cake mix, and some other odds and ends pictures. But, I as I said in last blog, I wish I could upload the video. I still need to get in on disc to be sure we always have it because it is going to make for a great video at her 16 birthday party! or her wedding! Janice had lit the candles and everyone was singing happy birthday, but because it was so hot, we had our ceiling fans on. Yes, you have more than one in one room! As we put the cake down in front of Mikaylah, all the candles went out! oh, no, we just light them again, but Mikaylah breaks out into this most horrific cry I have ever heard. It is like the worst thing in the world has happened and she is broken hearted because her birthday was ruined! Her perfect day was in shambles. Well, we quickly begin to light the candles again when we discover, and it is on the video that the fans had a little help by who? yes, you guessed it, little brother, Jayson. Everytime we lit a candle, he would very sublty lean in and blow them out, furthur exasperating Mikaylah because afterall, it was her birthday and she was going to blow the candles out!I can't blame her. I am just a bit worried for her wedding day way down the road if this happened on a birthday:) The picture you see here is just after all of that. She is doing her best to be cheery, smiley and not cry. She is such a cute littel girl...we love her so much.

As you can see some of the other presents that she received were a pooh clock, which Jayson thought was for him! Some hairbands, 3 barbie dolls, fruit chews, a play kitchen and pots and pans, a sippy type cup with Tinkerbell on it, so the next day we had to watch Peter Pan because that is where Tinker bell is! Notice the outfit Grandma? Mikaylah thought that was the very best! She wanted to wear it day after day after day!

During the big birthday bash, as Mikaylah was receiving much of the attention, little brother was busy entertaining his own friend! The little sister of Lydia, Jayson and Eliza were busy hiding in the cabinet where the trash can normally rests! It is amazing, when the kids go to bed at night, and the power goes off, Jayson goes ballistic. He can't stand it totally dark. When it is a surprise thing, he does not like it! But, to hide in a dark closest or cupboard, no problem! Now, I don't know if you noticed, but he is playing with a girl in her underwear! Should we be worried?????

Slippy slidy birthday!

Mikaylah's 5 birthday party was a ton of fun. What we thought was going to be a bunch of kids to enjoy her new slip 'n slide, it ended up being just the three girls and a whole bunch of adults,...oh, and some teenagers.
Mikaylah calls this not her slip 'n slide, but her slippy slidy. "Pappa, can we play with my slippy slidy today?" she has asked almost everyday since her birthday. Here she is with her very good friend, Lydia Beebout, who she met in Quebec. They have frozen together and now roasted together:)

The rest of her birthday sleepover will come on the next post. I couldn't post all the pics. I will make another post very soon, so you better read fast! I really wish our internet was good enough to upload a video of Mikaylah and the birthday cake. That was very funny. I will tell that story in the next post.

Jayson even like the slide, although I think he thought playing with the big boys was even more fun than the water. Nowadays he loves to run, stop and fall face first into the water on the slide. They have such a great time with it! This is something that we packed on the container to come out here long before Jayson was even born. Mikaylah was a little 2 year old when we bought it for her and we didn't see it again until we unpacked the container on this side of the pond. That was best $5.00 we spent for her birthday. As you can see some of the other presents included Mac 'N Cheese, or Kraft dinner for all the Canadians. That was a real treat since we haven't had that since Quebec. Not that Janice and I were complaining much, but the kids gobbled down a box very quickly the other day! It was like we never fed them. Ok, they didn't eat the box, just the macaroni and cheese. I have to admit, it did taste rather yummy:)

Oh, don't forget to notice Mikaylah's princess crown. She spent most of her birthday telling us she was a princess. Boys are prince's and girls are princesses. I really think she felt very special for her birthday. On Saturday, she asked if it was her birthday again. After we told her 52 more Friday's and it is your birthday again, she was content. Of course, in her mind, 52 Friday's might as well be next week!

Jayson's haircut

This is a picture of a stage Jayson is going through right now where he likes to walk around being a "monster". He is the friendliest monster I know. He is always smiling all the while he squints his eyes, puts his hands up like claws and roars like a bear! It is quite the sight. Mikaylah always plays along and goes to hide from this hideous monster. When he finds her, he turns her into a monster to go hunt momma and pappa. We have had many good times as a family playing "Where the wild things are". If you don't know, that book is coming out on movie next summer, as rumour has it.

Just thought those of you who follow our kids would like to see the before and after pics of Jayson getting a haircut. I did not include all the during pictures because he was just covered with powder, so the hair would be easier to get off. But he was very proud. I was on a canoe trip when Janice cut his hair, but when I came back, the very first thing Jayson said to me was, loo, pappa(Look Pappa) while he patted his head. He was very proud of his new hairstyle!

Odd Things

Just thought I would send out some of the fun pictures we have captured of our kids while the dorm kids are home with their parents. We are enjoying our break, but it will end in less than a week. We have enjoyed doing several things as a family, including sleeping in a tent(more on that later). Here Jayson is trying on Daniel Meade's not so small boots and looks like he is going to ride off into the sunset! Jayson is growing by leaps and bounds as you may expect. He talks all the time, although we don't know what his language is yet:) Right now, we are trying to potty train him and he is doing very well. He often comes to find us to tell us, "peepee" He is the little brother often when he pushes Mikaylah's buttons to get her all worked up. For the most part, they really enjoy one another, though. We enjoy sitting back and watching them play.

This picture was taken after our Hippo hunt. Mikaylah wanted to bad to climb a tree. I tried to get her to climb up herself and she tried. She got half way up and then got scared she was going to fall. So, I placed her up on the limb for this picture. Unfortunately, I must be a bit allergic to Mango because the next day, I had a rash all over my arms. Very itchy!

We thought you would also like to see what our kids do every night during bath time. They really like the suds as you can see. If we get called out by the dorm kids, we sometimes leave them to bath on their own. When that happens, we usually have lots of water in our bathroom, all over the floor. They really have fun!

Hippo hunting!

Mikaylah and I got to do some touristy things here in Niamey. We have not had the opportunity or the energy to go out and do a bunch of stuff like all the short term people here. With two little ones plus the high heat, it doesn't add up to a ton of fun. But, we have enjoyed some things together, like the zoo, the dunes and now...hippo hunting! Janice really wanted to go as well, but we were a little leary of taking Jayson out on one of these boats/canoes without a lifejacket. He would want to go in with the hippos.

It was a rather hot day, well over 100 degrees F, and there was no wind. The boat had a little cover on it, but that actually made sitting watching the hippos very hot. We came across this whole family of hippos all in one place. I took some pics with my digital, but the zoom isn't good enough. I got some great shots with my old film camera which I will post once I get those on a cd, if that is possible here. This family has 2 little ones and some great big pappa sized hippos, as Mikaylah would say.

As they sat there kind of being boring with only their snouts out of the water, the pappa hippo raised up as if we was going to go someplace. Man, was he huge! But, as quick as he came up, he sat back down. But then momma and poppa must have gotten bored because they kept yawning. Now, to watch a hippo yawn is kind of entertaining. You can always tell when a big one is coming because they open their mouths a little once, then close. Then open it again a little more, then close it. What a tease these guys were! But then they would open wide, as hippos do and hold it there as if pausing. I was actually able to get 3 or 4 pictures of one yawn with an old manual wind camera.

We were able to go with a couple who are engaged to be married soon. Daniel Meade is our math teacher here at Sahel Academy. He came out for 8 months to fill in for this year. His fiancee, Victoria Chick(yes, Vic Chick) was able to come out for a little while during her break at Moody to see where her man has been working. Mikaylah took a great liking to Victoria, as you can see from the photo. Victoria only got nervous once when the little hippo went under water and she wanted to know where it was going. Of course, you always hear of stories of hippo attacks. The mommy hippo kept a sharp eye on us, snorted a few times, but was content to stay put.

When I am able to get better photos of the hippos, I will share them with you. Really, those are hippos in the water there!