Here is a video I made of Mariama's pictures.
I hope you enjoy!!

Upload Video at JussPress.com

Afternoon pictures

For the afternoon, we all had a different outfit that we wore, and had lunch.

This is me in my afternoon robe, with my teacher friend.

This is a picture of Lisa that I played around with.

Odet helped Lisa get William and Mariama changed, and brought them back while Lisa changed.

This is the outfit that Lisa wore that afternoon!!! I loved it and so did everyone else.

Lisa playing around with Odet and some of our other Senegalese friends.

Pape looking good in his outfit. A neighbor friend made this and gave it to us for him.

more ngente pictures

HERE ARE SOME MORE PICTURES FROM THE NGENTE!!

Some of the "fellow co-workers" that came to support us.

A., our former househelper, and Pape...they missed each other

A. with Mariama....we were SO glad that she came in from the village to be with us this weekend.

Us with a neighbor man. They ALL wanted to hold Mariama and they all told us how beutiful she is!!

Me talking with the teacher that I am working with.

Ngente Pictures part 2

Now it is time for us to start to get ready!!! We each had 2 different outfits for the day.

Pape is ready.... and being silly with his "piggy face"

I take my own picture in the mirror, but without my Grand Boo-Boo

Lisa is getting her make-up on in the bathroom....I like it!!! (Yes, I grew-up in the 80's!)

Mariama is waiting to get dressed.

I just told her that she was as beautiful as her mother

Ngente Pictures part 1

The neighborhood ladies are preparing the food the day before

They worked all day to get the food ready!!

They cut and pealed EVERYTHING by hand...it was a LOT of work!

The morning of the ngente, they started back where they left off. This is our househelper, Odet, helping on the left.

Another neighbor hand peeled and cut several pounds of cucumbers.

This is the man that does the call to prayers at the local mosque. They are the ones who do the big cooking for events like this.

My first audio post....with help from William!!

A view from the field.

Hello there, I know it has been a while since I have written, but allow me to share my heart with you. Let me start by saying a sincere thank you for all your prayers. Those of you that have spent some time overseas, especially in Africa, have an idea of the struggles that we can/do face on a daily basis. The language is different and no matter how well you study and learn it, it STILL is not your language and you will have days that all you want to do is find other Americans and hear nothing but your heart language; English. Then there are the cultural differences, and these involve Religious cultural differences as well. No matter how well you study the differences and TRY not to make any mistakes, you still will. And you will have, almost daily, things happen that make you say “Why in the world are they doing this that a way?!?!” All you can do some times is just bite your tongue and just say that this is NOT America, and there ways are not always wrong. If you watch close enough you might even learn something new or a new way to do things. The physical climate here can also be brutal. While the temps here are similar to what we knew in the States, back home we had air conditioning…EVERYWHERE! Here you have it in some of the big French stores and some government buildings and doctors offices, and if you are lucky your car has it and it works well. So what is missing from that list? That’s right…IN OUR HOUSE!! None of the houses here have it in every room, and those that do have A.C., only have it in the bedrooms. Our house you ask…NONE, only LOTS of fans!! So when the heat rises, we sweat!! Then of course there is the reliability of the electricity here. I had to stop typing this in mid paragraph because the electricity went out…again! Now for the last 2 days our phone has been out. And everyday the phone company says in the morning they will come out in the afternoon, only to change that in the afternoon and say in the morning. We will see.

These are all facts of life for living overseas for anyone. But on top of all that, we as believers have the added stress and pressure of the daily and constant spiritual struggles to deal with. While I know that there are these battles in America, they are NOTHING like what you face when you are in the enemies territory. They tag team with all the other stressors at times to make them that much worse. Sometimes it is just the little things here that can affect you in big ways. Sometimes it is some of the issues and personal things you face in America, only here, well as the mission board truly says “What bugs you in America will buffalo you overseas.” The anger, tension, depression, loneliness, fear, withdrawal or whatever else is dealt with back home comes up and can bite you in the hinny and REALY effect you and your work here.

All of this is where YOU come in. You are our support network, and without you, we would NOT stay here!! We can NEVER say that enough nor explain everything we deal with on a constant basis for you to get the full impact that your prayers have on and for us. You are part of our life line and we thank God for you OFTEN. And we pray for a lot of you by name as God lays you on our hearts, which He does OFTEN. So together we are each others support system and for that, I am TRULY grateful!!!! So keep the prayers and words of encouragement coming!!

Pictures!!!

Here are some pictures for you to see!!!! Our first family picture!!!! Taken at the hospital.

William LOVES his new sisiter!!

Daddy and Pape and Mariama

Pape giving her kisses, he does this ALL THE TIME!!!

"...This little piggy stayed home..."
He was actually playing this with her, with our help, but he started it.

My time with my son

I now want to tell you about what this weekend was like for me without Lisa. This was not an overly fun weekend for me. Let me start by saying that any time in the past that Lisa and I were apart, I have been pretty pathetic!! While I have used those times to watch some of the movies that Lisa is not interested in (horror flicks and stupid comedies), the night times were ALWAYS the worst time for me as that was when I settled down with nothing else to occupy my mind. All that to say this I love my wife and miss her when we are away from each other for a long length of time. This weekend was only made slightly worse with a son who had a fever and was also missing his mother. He missed Lisa almost as much as I did. Then he had a fever, and here, one of the first things most people do, and we were encouraged to do so, is to treat for malaria. Well, William did not want to take his medicine for malaria, and actually threw it up..ALL OVER THE BED AND HIMSELF!! Then while trying to calm him down and clean him up, the phone started to ring. After getting everything somewhat restored, we tried to eat and I tried to get William to take his medicine again, which he refused, and almost threw-up again. I was at the end of my rope and was ready to lose it do to the frustration of it all. Fortunately, God settled me down and my son woke up from his nap and ran to me and loved on me, as if nothing happened.

We were then able to go see Lisa and that helped us both A LOT!!! We had a fun time that night with bath time and going to bed. He and I prayed and I helped him ask God to bless Mommy, Daddy, Sister and himself ( the next night I added Gamma, Gampa and others), and he went to sleep after taking something for a fever. Sunday was a LITTLE easier as his "missy" grandparents took him for the morning and I went to see Lisa. She though was running a fever and the night nurses seemed oblivious to it. After making Lisa ask about it, they gave her some medicine for fever and started malaria tests (they were negative!!). William and I saw Lisa that afternoon and played some that evening back at home.

Monday, I had Odett, our houshelper!!! That was a BIG blessing!!!!! She took care of Pape that day while I visited Lisa. Fortunately I was able to bring Lisa home on Tue. I also had William checked out on Tue. and the doctor said that he was fine and he probably had the virus that was going around coupled with missing his mother.

Birth of my daughter!!

WOW!!!! I have a daughter!!! Lyle Sasser's prayers worked, and as he says "Let the finger wrapping begin." Don't get me wrong...I LOVE MY SON! But there is something about a daughter that I know will touch my heart in a different way. She is a true blessing from God and I know that I will treasure her forever. Here are some of the ways that our/your prayers have been answered in her birth.

1. Quick conception: It took Lisa and I almost 2 years to get pregnant with William, and after trying ONE month, we get pregnant.
2. We were blessed with a great doctor that speaks English and was trained in France. Also, we were blessed with a good hospital as well. A very modern hospital with well trained staff (FYI: this is the hospital that all of West Africa uses for births and other medical issues if/when needed).
3. God blessed us with good language skills so that we were able to go through the entire process without any other helpers. Even though the doctor spoke English, the nurses did not and neither did Mariama's doctor. THIS IS A MAJOR THING FOR US AND OUR WOLOF!!
4. The whole birth process was fairly smooth, and the rough areas God carried us through.
1. Lisa started labor in the morning of the 22nd and was given some Pitosin to help induce. We were then sent home after about 2 hours and told to try again later as the contractions were not strong enough and she was not fare enough along. After attending a movie night that the missy school put on, we returned home and William was not feeling well and woke-up every 5 minutes crying, even in our bed. Then, about 11pm, the Pitosin starts to really kick in giving Lisa severe cramps and pain. After an hour of this, she is on the floor in the bathroom in tears and pain and William is scared in our bed. We called "grampa Johnson" and go to the hospital, thinking she may have a virus that has been going around, to find out that she was having contractions. They gave her some medicine to slow down the contractions and the waiting game begin (it is now 2am). When the big time comes, as Mariama is being born, I saw the doctor doing something with her head and he keep saying "Oh my...Oh my!" I found out after she was born why, the doctor told me the cord had wrapped around her head 5 TIMES, and had even tried to knot as well. She was quite, which scared and concerned Lisa, but soon the doctor came back from checking her and said that she was "perfect."
   

There were other things from the next couple of days, but I will write about them in another blog. Thank you for ALL your prayers and keep them coming!!

Update

Hello there

I had not realized how long it had been since I last wrote something. We have been spending the last 2 weeks teaching English in a local neighborhood. I have @ 5-6 that come everyday, most of which have at least some English. So I have been spending a lot of time going over some different parts of speech, vocabulary and will start soon on some slang and phrases. That will be fun as I will teach them some southern terms and general phrases and everyday proverbs as well. So yes, I will be teaching them to say "Howdy y'all, how ya doin' ?"

Due to teaching in the mornings, I have been working on getting things ready in the evenings and trying to spend some good time playing with Pape. As you know, he turned 2 this month and his words have really taken off lately. He also has learned SEVERAL animal sounds. Here are some of the sounds that he knows;

• Dog- goes "woof"
• cow- goes "mooooo"
• Monkey- goes "ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh" (while scratching under his arms)
  
• Gorilla- pats his chest
• crocodile- goes "snap" (while clapping hands)
• lion- goes "rrooarr" (while raising head and arching eyes)
• lamb/goat - goes "baaaa"
• snake- goes "ssssssss' (while trying to stick tongue out)
  
• elephant - goes "uuuuuu" (while raising hand into air)
• bee - goes "zzzzzzz" (although sounds a lot like snake, but without the tongue)
• rooster - goes "oooo-oooo-oooo-oooo" (has sound, but not rhythm-although knows name as chick, thanks to cards from grandma)
• Rabbit - goes "Doc!" (one of my favorites....as in "What's up Doc?" I taught him that one)

Lisa will have a list of his words on her blog site soon. I will be trying SOON to add a pictures page to our web-site and some more updated info, I just need to find the time. Well, this somewhat gives you an idea of life the last few weeks. Leave me a comment and tell me what you think.

My thoughts om Lisa's cooking

Hey there, I just LOVE a wife that can cook, especially some good comfort food!!!! For those of you who know me well, you know that I LOVE to cook. Over here though, it is not always the culturally acceptable thing for me to be cooking. So when we came, I told Lisa that I would try to back off, at least for lunches, during the week (for most dinners we eat sandwiches or something VERY lite). I have tried to not make too many suggestive comments, and actually have not made and suggestions in a while. This is because my wife has turned into a GREAT cook, her Grandmother would be proud! This is saying a lot as we have almost NO quick fix items here, other then what we get from home, so everything just about has to be made from scratch. She has come across some great recipes, and has played with the ingredients as if I would, and made them her own. One of the best things she does for me though, is make some good; old-fashioned comfort food. Some of these I had growing up, others are just standard things, but they remind me of home, which I need from time-to-time. Here are a list of some of my favorite comfort foods that she makes.

• chocolate-chip cookies (although I do not get them as much as I would like)
  
• Fried chicken
• Chicken & dumplings (her Grandmother's recipe)
  
• Sour eggs (something I grew up with-a cream sauce with vinegar & mustard & hard boiled eggs over boiled potatoes)
• Chicken with a soy sauce & water sauce with rice something else I grew up with)
• Round steak (something her mother makes- I am not sure which is better...They both are AWESOME!!!)
• Chicken nuggets (not the store bought kind either!!!)
• banana bread/muffins
  

New comfort foods/:

• Texas hash (ground beef, tomatoes & rice)
• Curried ground beef (basically a beef stew)
• tamale pie

There are others as well, I just can not think of them now. Remember, we are talking about all of these being made from scratch!!! God has definitely blessed me with a wonderful wife!!!! I LOVE HER AND HER COOKING!!!!!!!!!

My ramblings

Hello there, I will apologize in advance for any rambling that I will do. I will try to keep this at least somewhat coherent. I am SOOO tired today, mentally, physically and physiologically as well. On the field, we talk about hitting the wall, and there are several walls we hit. The first and biggest is the one that everyone hits 6 months after arriving on the field. Of course I hit that last year, 3 months after my father's funeral, while living in the village. While last year had MANY struggles for us/me, through the prayers and support of our family & friends, I made it through. Now we have been in the city for all this year and have been able to focus in on our new assignment, and had our first volunteer team from FL. Come out. Those things have been a BIG blessing for us and has helped to give us a strong sense of purpose out here.


But lately, the last week or so has been a little tiring. After the team left, we were set-up to hold some English classes at the church that we worked with, for the neighborhood students. Lisa and I prepared for a few days and went up to the church on Monday the 8th, only to have no one show up, no even from the church. We went back each morning for 3 days, just in case, and STILL no one. So we decided to scrap the teaching for the first 2 weeks. Now I was able to meet the director of a local community center and make plans to use the center for the next set of 2 weeks. I can't help but wander if the church has done some of the follow up that they were supposed to do. Several of the youth from the church are supposed to be doing some follow up from after the camp and while doing so, many said that they would remind people about the classes. Oh, well, pray for the next round, which starts on the 22nd and runs through the 2nd of Sept.


A large part of my tiredness has more to do with just life here. On Thursday last week, they started to build on a new room to the studio that is below us. While working, they hit the water line and had to turn off the water. Now we have a LARGE water tank on our roof, for our house only, we used all of that by the end of the day with laundry and other uses. Then on Fri, we found out that the water pressure was so low that our tank was not re-filled, and was bad enough that we had just a trickle, from one faucet all day. Then, that afternoon, we found out that the city was planning on shutting off the water to ALL the city, to work on some pipes. So now we spend the rest of the evening trying to fill up a barrel with water, so that we can have something. I woke up EARLY both Fri. and Saturday to make sure that we had at least some water to wash with, flush the toilet and bath with. After spending most of the evening on Friday and all morning on Saturday, by 3pm, we had about 1 barrel filled.


We did have a good evening though. The President, and his wife (Jerry and Bobbie Rankin), of the IMB came out for a visit. Several of us from our office, Senegal wide, came together to have a dinner and fellowship. As it turns out, we ate Senegalize style, from a common platter, and the wife of the president, Bobbie, ended up sharing our platter with us. I do have to say that I am VERY impressed with them both. They are just normal people that actually would love to be on the field again. They are VERY personable and friendly.


Sunday, yesterday, was a LONG day for me though. Lisa, and the other ladies, met with Bobbie for a time of prayer and worship. So I had another missionary father of 2 small children, friends of Pape, come over for time together. As it turns out, we had a "typical" Sunday here, electricity wise. On top of little to no water pressure, at about 9 am the power went out. It normally does this each Sunday lately, fortunately last week it was out all day, until about 4pm. I say fortunately because that helped me have an idea of how long we would be without power. Well, I spent the morning with 3 children, under the age of 2 1/2 years, playing and helping make sure they share. Since the power situation was what it was, when Lisa came home, at about noon, we went to a restaurant to eat. While waiting on the food, I went outside and played with Pape on the play area, in the heat again. After returning home, we all laid down for our afternoon nap, in a slightly hot house, there was a slight breeze. Lisa had her baby shower that afternoon, and left before Pape woke up. I played with him though for about an hour, reading and wrestling around, getting hot and sweaty, after he woke up. We then went to where Lisa was, to help get the stuff home, but also because I figured they had electricity, which meant fans!!! We stayed there for a while and all returned home at @ 5:15pm, and PTL, the power had returned!!!!


We did have a chance to talk to Lisa's mother that night on Yahoo, which we try to do every Sunday. She seemed a little tired as well though, we seemed to have audio issues from time to time and Pape did not always want to stay in the living room. Since it was Lisa's mom, I tried to keep up with him and try to keep him in the room with us, so Grandma could see him, and to save the rest of the house. We also were able to do what we try to do every Sunday night as well. After Pape goes to sleep, I make a big bowl of popcorn and we watch a movie, we call it "date night."


So after dealing with the water issue on top of the power issue on top of chasing after a 2 year old all weekend, I am tired. There were other issues as well, but this post has become quite long! But a BIG PRAISE; PAPE TURNS 2 TODAY!!!!! We will be having a party at my Senegalize mother's home. Her daughters, my sisters, are here now helping get things made.

A thought for today

An interesting thing has been in my mind lately. Here, after saying that you will see someone later, do something later or just reference something to be done in the future in general, it is followed by "EnshAllah" or " Bu soobee Boroom Bi," both of which mean " If God wills it." One quickly gets the idea that most that say it, even the Christains, mean it. They tend to have a better view that all we do is guided by God and that NOTHING happens by accident. The Bible even tells us to have this mind set in James 4:13-15. God is teaching me everyday, more and more that I am NOT in controll as much as I thought I was.

Who is in controll of your life? When things don't go the way you think they should, do you get frustrated and upset, or do you just say, "Oh, well, God id in controll and not me!" Try to at least think, if not say, "If God wills it" next time you talk about what the future hold for you. It will change your outlook on life.

From Rich

Hey there, we want to use this to share with you what our daily lives are like here and some of our thoughts from here as well. We also want to hear from you as well, so leave comments on things and we will try to answer any questions that you might have. I will be trying to get a blog set-up for Lisa as well soon, but for now this is for both of us.