Mikaylah's birthday party

Mikaylah's birthday is March 27, which falls during break. However, Mikaylah really wanted to have a "kindergarten" birthday with her classmates before the break.
My sister designed the invitation.

We invited all the classmates for lunch. Kindergarten is only a half day, so it seemed easier to have them all walk over after school.


We had pizza and koolaid (foster clarks) and carrot sticks. We played Musical Chairs, paste the face and duck duck goose. We opened presents, and followed clues to a piñata filled with candy. Everyone got to hit the piñata and since it still didn't break Tim had to break it to the delight of the kids. They were so sweet to share equally with each other I was really impressed! What a great group of kids! Jayson wanted to know where his birthday presents were. I told him that he would get a present (loot bag) at the end of the party. That made him happy. Mikaylah felt fêted but wanted to know if there will be more presents on her "real" birthday!

Coup d'étât Day

Thursday February 18 was my dad's birthday. It began as a normal Thursday morning, getting the kids out the door in time for school. Mikaylah came home from Kindergarden at noon, and by 1pm we had just finished lunch when we heard machine gunfire. Then a few minutes later we heard the school siren announcing a lock down. I was just wondering if it was another drill when we got a phone call from Dave Totman telling us this was not a drill, but to stay inside the dorm. When Mikaylah and Jayson wanted to go out to play, I nonchalantly told them it was too hot, let's play a game... my children were bewildered at mom's strange response but not afraid. The lock down lasted three hours, in which we heard many military helicopters and more gun fire outside the gate. We discovered that there was a coup d'étât happening. To my recollection of a few coups happening in Côte d'Ivoire, this was the most calm, and quiet military take over I have ever experienced. At no time did we fear for our well being. God's peace passed all our understanding and we were able to be in contact with parents. The dorm kids all came home at 3pm and when we told them that school was going to be suspended on Friday, they (most of them) were happy to be able to sleep in. There were a few disappointments: The outreach planned for this weekend was postponed, Neil and Lisa Sim (parents to Beth, Josh and Hannah) were not able to cross the border from Benin to Niger, and the accreditation team scheduled to come in were all rerouted all over the world (well, at least in Africa and in the US). So while those of you have been having your snow days, we here in Africa had a "Coup d'étât" Day. Just not as fun to play in!

One of our seniors, John's parents live in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, and they have been experiencing a coup of sorts as well.

Thank you to all of you who prayed for peace, please continue to pray for Mali and Côte d'Ivoire.

Une Nuit à Paris

Our Student Council recently sponsored a banquet that many of the kids claimed was a Valentine's banquet. At any rate, it was an opportunity to dress up, and our kids did a great job of that. Here are some of the photos Tim took of our kids on their way to the banquet:
Zeb and his sister Elisheva Zoolkoski are Americans whose parents are at the Sim hospital in Galmi.
Sisters, Bethany and Hannah, and brother Josh Sim are Aussies from Benin.
The two oldest of the Ottosson family, Nathanael and Mikaela, are also Aussies whose parents work in Burkina Faso.
Our own kids: Jayson and Mikaylah pose for Papa
Not only was it a night of good food and fellowship, Amanda Winsor taught our kids how to waltz Shelby Winsor and Mikaylah had a great time!
John and Bethany whirled around the dining hall, if only we had a disco ball!! HA HA

Even Tim and I dressed up and had a great time!

Girls' Hall

Our Girls' Hall has the most rooms (three) in the dorm and can comfortable fit six girls, though occasionally we will put three girls in "the big room" at the end of the hall. This year we were going to have to find a bed for one as we had eight on our list. When the girls found out, they all agreed they would rather be squished than lose one of their "sisters". This blog is in dedication to our eight girls down our girls hall. They are, Hannah, Blessing and Mikaela in the small girls' room,

Elisheva and Rebekah in the BIG girls' room, and

and Bethany, Deborah and MiYoen in the middle-sized girls' room... now I am starting to sound like Goldilocks and the three bears!!

Isaiah 58:11

One of our new students, 12 year old Mikaela wondered if she could plant a garden, "not a flower garden, but food".  So she and one of her room-mates, Blessing have hoed and watered a patch of ground that they call their own.  Monday Mikaela planted the top of the pineapple I had cut up for snack.  So we will see how it progresses!

"... He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land... like a well watered garden..." Is 58:11

pictiondictionary

Our first Saturday night in the dorm after Christmas vacation and the kids are not bogged down with a lot of homework (yet), so we played a game of piction-dictionary.  Everyone starts with a fresh sheet of paper and a pencil.  Each person writes a descriptive sentence and passes it to the person on their right.  The next person draws a picture of what is described in the picture, folds the paper so the original sentence can not be seen and passes it to their right.  The next person writes a sentence that describes the picture and so on all around the table until you get your original piece of paper back.  Then each person reads their original sentence and all the hilarious mixed up pictures and sentences that follow.  The kids had a great time seeing how their sentences got morphed!

Celebrate good times!

I know that it is important to celebrate joyful occasions, and so this week we celebrated!!

My good friend "Tanti Hadiza" who also helps me in the kitchen three days a week asked me if she could bake a cake for her friend who just had a baby. She had gone through the labour and delivery with her friend, so she was given the task to name the baby. She chose the name Arielle. Then she asked if I would decorate the cake for her. This is Tanti Hadiza with her cake for baby Arielle.

Joshua turned 13 in December (two days before Christmas) so we had an "unbirthday" for him on Wednesday. He asked for hamburgers and French Fries and Banana cream pie for dessert! It was a fun Supper, and Josh's parents were still in town so they got to celebrate with us too!!


On Thursday Rufus received a letter from Oral Roberts University that he had been accepted into the pre-med programme!! Whoa, are we proud or what?? John has also been accepted to ORU, so I baked a cake (chocolate since John brought us 20 boxes of cocoa from Cote d'Ivoire!! (Rufus on the left and John on the right)

Happy New Year 2010!!

Wow, hard to believe that 2010 has arrived!! Doesn't it seem like we are living in the future??
Tim and I spent Wednesday apart, which is unusual. Tim was over at the McIver's helping to build the new climbing apparatus for our playground. While Janice was over at the Beebout's house trying to get it clean before their arrival early Thursday morning. We met Jeremy and Susan and their two girls Lydia and Eliza ( aged six and four) in Quebec during our language study. They have become special friends of ours... They went back to America in August to await the arrival of their third child. Abigail was born September 9 (Labour day of course!) and they returned to Niger safely Thursday, December 31!
Thursday morning Tim and the rest of the men who helped create the climber brought it over to our playground and installed it into its cement moorings. After lunch with part of the crew we played our annual softball game, (even Janice played!)
Our friends the McIvers (also language study friends from Quebec) had supper with us Thursday night. Their two children are between our two, so they had a great time playing together. Since our kids are young we decided to have a sleep over!! We have lots of empty bedrooms this time of year while the dorm kids are with their own families. After the kids went to bed we played a game of "ticket to ride" (which was brand new to Tim and I). Chantelle won big time!! At midnight we walked over to the river to watch the hotels' display of fireworks (while most of you were eating dinner in North America). Happy New Year from Niger!

Merry Christmas

Mikaylah and Jayson met "Santa Claus" at the American Rec Center December 5th.

Mikaylah actually woke up this morning forgetting that it was Christmas!!  Tim asked her if she knew what day it was, "Friday." was her response... it wasn't until she wandered into the dining room and saw the Christmas presents that she realized it was Christmas!

Jayson slept in til 10 am!!  But Mikaylah was content to eat pancakes and discover her stocking while we waited for Jayson to wake up!

Mikaylah and Jayson with their stockings

We were spoiled by Tim's brother Ron and Janice's sister, Jennifer this year as both sent packages with gifts for us.  Janice made stockings and was still wrapping presents Christmas morning before the kids woke up!!

Mikaylah's favourite gift was the roller skates that we got her at a garage sale last summer. Uncle Ron and Aunt Linda AND Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Chris sent knee pads and elbow pads for her so Jayson got the black set and Mikaylah got the pink set!!

Daddy opens the walkie talkies while the kids look on.

Jayson's big tractor truck carrier

Jayson's favourite gift was a remote control car!  They were very spoiled! Mikaylah and Jayson in their new swimsuits (and Mika's elbow & knee "caps") and flashlights. We went over to the Riggs' home for dinner in the afternoon.  We were spoiled again with chicken, dressing, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy!!  And then four kinds of pie for dessert!!  Plus munching on Christmas cookies all afternoon.  We played a "Riggs' special" game the guys vs the girls and the guys won... It was a wonderful full day and we are very blessed!  Hope you had a great day too wherever you are and with loved ones close by.

It's Christmas Eve at Our House

Well, I have to tell you that this Christmas Eve was the first time Mikaylah was begging to go to bed on time. Her pappa had to go show a film in the neighborhood of one of our pastors tonight and he said that she better be asleep when he got home or Santa would skip right over our house. Her response? Don't worry daddy, Santa can't come here because it is too hot and Africa is way too far away from the North Pole. She knows that there will be presents under the tree tomorrow. She was in bed when I got home, but not asleep. I think she is a bit more than a little excited.

Tomorrow, I hope to bring you some Christmas pictures. I am really glad that while we joke about Santa coming or not, Mikaylah knows that it is just mommy and daddy pretending to be Santa. She will probably sing happy birthday to Jesus tomorrow. I will have to video that!

November Birthdays

November came and went pretty fast!  We had four birthdays in November,  Tim celebrated on the 8th, and everyone wore black!!  Mi Yoen turned 15 on the 10th, Jayson turned three on the 16th and Asyncrite celebrated sweet 16 on the 25th!!  We had Lots of Cake this month, especially considering we had no birthdays in October!!!

October

Genesis 1:31      God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.

This is just one of the verses that Mikaylah has learned this year in her kindergarten class. What a simple reminder that we often lose sight of when we are in the middle of a very hot, humid place in which we find ourselves. It is very good.

Hello again from Niamey where we actually had 3 inches of rain in October!

This week we find ourselves with our fall break that has been wonderful. We have had a great chance to relax, read, swim, and just hang out with friends.  We were even able to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving with some turkey breast Janice found in the grocery store!!

However, we began the week with much to do, as we got ready to play in yet another NUTS softball tourney here in Niamey. Now, from those who follow us closely, what does NUTS stand for? This year, there were three teams from Sahel Academy, just like last year. All three teams did really well. Our youngest team played so well together as a unit. Although they bowed out of the tournament in the semi finals, they made the school very proud in how they played.  The competitive team had last year’s title to defend. With two more teams in the tournament and all of the competitive teams with the ability to win, we really had some work to do. I will post the longer version on our blog, but to make a long story really short… we were successful in defending our title with a dramatic 8-7 win in the finals.

The school year seems to be going quite well so far. The kids in the dorm all seem to get along quite nicely with each other which makes our job so much nicer.  We are really enjoying watching some of them growing spiritually, mentally, and physically. Of course, those who are growing physically are eating a ton of food as well! Right now, we do have 13 in the dorm, only to add 3 more in January. That, in itself, is another story. We have room for one more girl in the dorm with two girls who really want to come. So, Janice and I found some other accommodations for the older girl here on campus only to find out that the girls hall already made plans and sacrifices to get everyone in. They are willing to squeeze three girls into a room made for two in order to make room for both girls to stay in the dorm. That is typical of the kids who live with us. This job is almost too easy at times! Praise God!

Mikaylah loves her class. She comes home everyday with stories of what they do each day. She loves reading and insists that we have to do her reading homework first. Now, she is trying to apply her reading skills to books that she had previously memorized like “The Grinch who Stole Christmas”. She is a good verse learner and seems to be getting along well with her classmates.

Jayson is still a very active little boy who loves to play hard. While he loves shoes, he rarely keeps them on his feet. He often comes crying home limping because he has one of those burrs in his foot. He tries to keep up with Mikaylah with her learning, so now he thinks he can read, too.

We would love to say a huge THANK YOU to all of you who support us financially. This week, I was finally able to catch up on some paperwork and look at where our support is as of late last summer. I am happy to report that while we have lost some support due to the recession, we have gained a whole lot more. When we arrived in Africa, we were at 86% and as of now, we are at 90%. Praise God for His faithfulness to us and thank all of you who are aiding this ministry to MK’s.

For those who have good internet, please check out the blog this week to find pictures of our giraffe outing we had this past Friday. The kids thought it was quite unusual to drive around for so long to find these very tall, gentle creatures. Jayson wanted to go for a ride!

I will leave you with some prayer and praises! Thank you all for the prayers for us. We are entering into my favourite time of the year. The coolness of the dry season is such a welcome change from the high heat and humidity.

~Praise God for a good break and needed rest

~Praise God for continued good health

~Pray for the relationships we have with the kids and their parents. Pray that all will bring honour to God.

~Pray for some of the new dorm kids struggling to keep up in school

~Praise for the world’s best supporters!

 

 

 

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).