The shadows of moringa trees dance on the cement floor of our veranda as I write. I can hear women pounding millet next door discussing the price of food at the market today. The curtains to our bedroom gracefully blow back and forth like wheat ready to be harvested. Classical music is playing the children’s room as they both take an afternoon rest. It’s peaceful. The kind of moment every mother celebrates. :-)
It’s been 9 days since we arrived in our African home – a town we call “Salisbury”. It feels like 9 weeks already! Life in the western world is growing increasingly distant as our pale skin goes tan, or flab turns into muscles, the treats in our freezer grow less and less and our family language takes on more foreign words like “Eeeeeooooooo!” instead of “wow!”.
Our travels couldn’t have gone better. We arrived after 12 hours of bouncing and bumping through the desert and were happily greeted by our team with cold drinks and spaghetti bolognaise.
The next day I counted that we served 37 cups of “toufam” – a sweet milk drink – to many visitors and neighbors who came to welcome us back.
As many of you know our house was broken into while we were away. Thankfully not much was taken. Perhaps the things we miss the most are a guitar and a pruner. Though they thieves didn’t much, they turned our house upside-down dumping everything out and breaking doors, locks, etc…SO, though our team helped to put many things into boxes, we’ve had quite a job of getting organized again!
Ben’s been making tables and various useful bits of furniture. I’ve begun creative cooking again and will write more in another entry about some of my new discoveries! J
Two days before we returned, one of our neighbors gave birth (there were 4 babies born while we were away!). We were able to join in with the naming celebration a few days’later which gave us the chance to see everyone in the neighborhood again.
Lili and Yan are adjusting slowly. Yan thinks the call to prayer at 5am is pretty exciting and has wanted to stay awake at that point. Because we all sleep outside letting a baby cry themselves to sleep is completely impractical even if simply for the reason that he/she keeps everyone else awake in the process! So, we are working on other creative ideas!
Lili is enjoying being reunited with her friends and her swing! She’s speaking a mix of languages to them (French, Pulaar and English), but she is happy when they come to play with her and their favorite game is playing hostess with plastic dishes and food.
Though we are in the middle of nowhere, I am thankful for peace – not just at naptimes (though that’s great!), but the deep peace that I feel in being here with Jesus.
