Grandma and Grandpa Crosby in Senegal (Part 2!)

 The kids went on a cool merry go round thing in the big fancy expat mall courtesy of G &G Crosby...it was my first time there and I felt like I was stepping back into the USA. Lou did NOT wabnt

 Liv on the elephant

 Marianna on the Saint of St. Louis airplane

 Later we went to a restaurant with a playground...a rare and awesome treat. 

 Louis on a bouncy toy

 Liv was super excited to have her first hot dog since france.

 Louis too...although he didn't know what a hot dog was.

 A little wheel turned this little merry go round thing. 

 Three bucks for huge ice cream cones with two big scoops...yes please (happy campers!)

 A nice family pic

 They look so Senegalese!!

Grandma and Grandpa Crosby in Senegal! (Part 1)

Outside Zippyland

At the fabric market, at the prettiest stall with grandma (Marche HLM)

Le bateau!  Louis LOVED riding in a boat.  Grandma and Grandpa took the kids on a little ride in a little lake we just discovered at our local park.   Thankfully it wasn't deep...the boat was barely seaworthy:)  I keep asking grandma and grandpa if they were sure they could rescue themselves and the grandbabies!

The happy sailors and the strong Senegalese man who acted as guide and manpower.

  Outside the tailor shop.  It is very very "rustic":).  Most of the "building"  is made from scavenged materials and they definitely are squatters (it is in the middle of an empty lot with some other squatters).  Generally he's done a good job minus one of the dresses for Karen.  He seemed to be working off someone else's measurements there!

More to come!

Trip to St. Louis, Senegal

Daniel was able to visit St. Louis, Senegal last weekend to see the dedication of a new maintenance internship program for young underprivileged boys. It won't start for awhile yet and we are praying about the possibility of working with them, but have no clear guidance in that direction yet. Overall we were excited about the involvement of the local Senegalese leaders and church elders and liked the town of St. Louis.

Pretty Tile work

Daniel helped set up for the ceremony

View of the neighborhood.

The ceremony

AFterward there were SNACKS! (and lots of cool outfits)

Local leaders giving interviews.

Boys playing outside

The shop

Welding shop

The front of the building

View of the cool tile in the hall from above

Daniel met lots of inspirational people while there.

The sports turf above (with some of our Dakar friends' boys)

At the local church

Daniel's host family's home (and two of their four kiddos and missions pastor)

The plaque (the center for professional training of underprivileged children)

100 days party

Marianna's class had a "100 days of school" party.  She had to count 100 things (we did beans) and bring them to school then they had a party.  A good excuse to do lots of counting and math I think!

 The 100 days snacktime (above) with her friend Andrew (the only other American in the class) and Darian, from India.  Below, her class and the first grade class together.  They must've joined forces for the party.  Fun!  Marianna loves her class, teacher, and school.  I am thankful.  The kindgergarten is comprised of 2 girls from Korea, on girl from Sweden, one boy from India, Africa, Austrailia, and one from somewhere I can't remember...along with the two Americans.  Very international!

Now that's what I call a gingerbread house:)

Some undiscerning folks may call this a gingerbread tent, or yurt of sorts. But to those of us in the know, it is a refined gingerbread cabin, and one with lots of bling at that. Thanks to Daniel, we made our first one this Christmas, and it was all from scratch, baby. Tasty too.

All right, it won't get any beauty awards, but hey, we had three happy customers!

Yes, my kids ate over their limit of sugar making and demolishing this thing.  But I guess that's a good reason you only do it once a year. 

Happy New Year!

Haircuts and why daddy needs a big stick

Four haircuts this past saturday...I feel like I earned my keep:) The girls are posing with the results.

They are just too cute/pretty...I think daddy will have his work cut out when they are teenagers (he already does with Marianna at school...everyone it seems knows her!)

Shhh...don't tell my kids it isn't "normal" to use just one roller skate at a time! Ha ha ..they love it and they don't fall TOO much! We have one scooter now another worker gave us, as well as a pair of spiderman skates I picked up at a garage sale here for $2. So...you can see the problem. Two fun "rolley" things, and three kids! So...one roller skate each:)

Senegal Pictures & Operation Christmas Child

Here are a few pictures from the recent Operation Christmas Child box distribution at SIL in Dakar as well as a couple others of just life in Africa. I'm not sure why the layout is funky here.