Tag: Selina

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Trading Novelty for Familiarity

We have been back in Senegal for three months now (how??). I wanted to try and describe what it’s been like to be back.

Imagine that you have just bought a new pair of shoes. They’re stiff and not broken in and you notice everything like where they pinch and if the heel is rubbing. You wonder if these will work out, is the heel rubbing too much? Should you have sized up? Sized down? On the flip side, you are also very aware of how new and lovely they are. They look good with this outfit, they work well for this event and they are so clean.

After some time you don’t notice the stiffness as much, if at all, because you’ve worn the shoes in. As such they are more comfortable. However, they are also more worn in another sense. They are likely not as clean as they were when you first bought them, perhaps they even have scuff marks or stains. You’ve had them a while now so they’re not as exciting as when you first bought them but you most likely like them even better now than at the start because they fit more comfortably to your foot.

That’s what it’s been like coming back to Senegal. When we first moved here Senegal was stiff. We didn’t know anything and had spent all of one week in Dakar before living here. Was this a good choice? Are we a good fit for life here?

There were also things at the beginning that struck us and delighted us, sometimes simply because they were new. For example, that horse drawn carts often stop in front of our home or people passing by shout what it is they are selling. The piles of fruit and vegetables at various produce stands or ladies roasting peanuts in the sand on the side of the road. Day to day we just don’t really notice these things as much as we used to and if we do we’re not quite as amazed by them.

In fact, in some ways I am tempted to more so notice the “scuffs”- the dust, the heat, people smoking cigarettes on our front porch, the trash in the streets, the disrepair of things, traffic, cultural differences. However, while I see these things more, I’m also not as shocked by them or by the various, previously foreign situations I find myself in. I can move and live here more comfortably, with greater ease and confidence.

We’ve traded novelty for familiarity but honestly I would make that trade most days. The key is to pause and remember the things we do love and the things that did once amaze. Appreciate those things but with the added privilege of experience. Choose to sit in childlike awe and naivete again, but with the gift of moving out of the role of novice.

I am so grateful to be back here and for the growing familiarity of and love for Senegal. What a gift to get to call this place home!

– Selina

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Choosing to Embrace Risk

Sometimes when I talk to friends who are missionaries on the field I’m struck by the crazy situations we encounter in a cross cultural setting. These crazy stories can often be ones filled with disbelief and laughter; just the other night we were joking with friends serving in another West African country that their 10 passenger car could actually be considered a 20 passenger car since piling as many people into a vehicle as possible is a pretty common sight to see in West Africa.

At other times though there are stories filled with disbelief and sadness, anger, frustration, fear and trauma of various kinds. Whether it’s from robberies, health scares, tense political situations or miscommunications in a second (or third!) language, it is easy to come across situations in a foreign country that push you towards complete physical or emotional exhaustion. It comes with the territory.

For example, a friend and I were commiserating recently about the fears we often have to surrender to the Lord living in a place with limited health care. In reality we have some of, if not the best, health care access in West Africa. That being said, it is still limited, especially in relation to emergency responses or intensive care for a more serious illness. In my case, I reflected on all that we experienced with Evie right after she was born. When she came down with a fever and was septic as a two week old we hit the cap of what could be done here medically. By God’s grace this was enough and she made a full recovery without needing to be medically evacuated elsewhere. My friend has been walking through terrifying breathing issues with her youngest son for about a year now and they have nearly exhausted all the resources here to determine why this is happening. When the moments of crisis with his breathing hit they have to hope the emergency response teams are able to come quickly (traffic in Dakar doesn’t always allow this) and aren’t occupied elsewhere.

For other friends serving in Africa there have been plane or car accidents, having their homes broken into, various other illnesses or injuries, getting mugged on the street or navigating countries being ravaged by military coups. In fact, in between drafts of this very post I heard about several friends having to evacuate their country of service due to political unrest and of another friend who was serving in Africa and had to fly to a different country emergently to get a much needed surgery which uncovered a cancer diagnosis.
In other parts of the world (and in parts of Africa too) I know these stressful experiences can involve being watched by the government, persecuted for sharing the gospel, getting evicted from homes with little notice or even getting kicked out of the country.

These things can feel overwhelming. Why choose to serve in places like this where there is so much risk, where the reality of walking through some sort of trauma feels more like a “when” than an “if”?

This reality is obviously not limited to overseas missions. Those choosing to enter the military are choosing a life with great risk. Those choosing to go into the medical field will very likely experience things that are very stressful or traumatizing. Even the simple choice to love another person is fraught with risk, knowing that our lives are fragile and we may lose our loved ones to illness or tragedy.

The list goes on and on for things that we choose to be a part of (or don’t choose, but endure anyway) in this fallen world that we know will be wrought with darkness and sin. And if it’s not from external situations then it’s from the internal battles we face with our own sin. The reality of life in this world is hard.

As a follower of Christ, however, we can choose to do things or go places that carry risk without grim determination, but rather with exuberant hope. Yes, we will face trials in this life – whether at home or abroad, but we don’t face them without this great hope. The One in us has already overcome. He has already won. The end has already been determined and we are on the victorious side. The darkness will be banished forever, the King reigning on His throne. No more tears, no more sadness, no more anxiety, no more trauma, no more battling my flesh.

We have this hope to share with our friends, family and neighbors who will inevitably walk through their own trials, but don’t have to do so without hope. We have the answer. We hold the key. His Name is Jesus and He changes everything. Our paths may lead to dark parts of the world, to hard situations and to places we never wanted to walk. We may even actively choose to embrace some of these risks, dangers and discomforts for the sake of following where God leads, for His glory and for the opportunity to share the good news with others. 

In all these things we cling to hope and to a God who is good and will preserve us, maybe not in these mortal bodies, but certainly in our faith.

2 Timothy 2:3;8-10

“Join with me in suffering, like a good solider of Christ Jesus…Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.”

– Selina

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Grace Upon Grace

I had a very wise mentor remind me a couple months ago that God gives us “grace upon grace”. She was expressing this as something the Lord had been reminding her of at the time, but also as an encouragement to me. At the time of this conversation I was entering the first trimester with baby no. 4 while also tackling being a first time homeschooling mom living overseas. As a seasoned homeschool mom herself she was speaking from experience that there is certainly a learning curve to the homeschool life just as there is with anything. Given our life circumstances she was offering it as an extra encouragement to rest in God’s grace, especially when things didn’t go exactly as I planned or hoped with homeschool. A big part of this seems to be weighing out my expectations for myself as a teacher, for my kids as students, as well as what we can reasonably accomplish each day with a 1st grader, preschooler and a 1 year old.

“Expectation” is a theme that just keeps popping up as I can find myself trying to “measure up” to expectations in other areas as well such as who I should be as a missionary. Whether it’s from assuming our supporters have certain expectations of me or comparing myself to the other missionaries whose newsletters show up in my inbox it can be a vicious game and one that does not take into account God’s grace or sufficiency in my life. In each area of life I am guilty of playing this game – mother, wife, teacher, homemaker, language learner etc. etc. etc.

Suffice it to say that I need to be regularly (like daily? or hourly? or minutely?) resting in the Lord, who He is and who I am in light of who He says I am. I am a chosen, adopted child of God whose sins have been forgiven. I’ve been given new life and a new identity. My worth is not measured by how well I’m meeting expectations or by what I can contribute (a truth I often forget –> I’ve contributed nothing, Jesus contributed everything). In this God has been reminding me to abide in Him, to rest in Him, to find peace in Him. And in this I’m also being reminded that I can’t do everything, but I can be faithful in the areas God has called me to for each season of life.

So what does this season of life look like? It’s a season of finishing well and preparing for change. As I type this we are coming to the end of our first term here in Senegal. We have been away from the States for 3 years. We have made two international moves, had a baby in Africa, started homeschooling, learned (*are learning) a new language (we’ve discovered this is a process), made so many connections with Senegalese people as well as our expat community here, discovered how long and slow cultural acquisition is, grown lots in our marriage and parenting, learned more about who God is by seeing Him through the lens of other cultures and also seen our faith get deepened tremendously through trials and triumphs, homesickness and creating a home, high highs and low lows. We’ve barely scratched the surface on what it means to do ministry and life cross-culturally and we are so grateful we get to walk this, at times heart wrenching and exhausting while simultaneously beautiful, life.

We are excited for our upcoming time in the States to be close to family, to share about the past three years with those who have invested so much for us to be here, to have our baby, to rest well, to get further equipped for the work ahead, to show our kids the city and state we grew up in and love and so on. We are also already so excited for our return to Senegal at the end of the year! What will our second term hold? Each season in it’s time.

For these final three months before our first home assignment I am seeking the Lord for what He has and am resting in His goodness each day. May I walk faithfully the path He has – all glory be to Christ my King.

– Selina

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New Friends in the Neighborhood

If you’ve followed along with our journey then you know that we have a heart for our neighborhood and long to connect with our neighbors, but have found this more difficult than we expected. Culturally it’s been hard to figure out how to connect, especially on a deeper level than brief conversations on the street.

This has been a huge prayer point since we moved here. Fast forward to last weekend when our neighbors had a party. Parties here go all day and late into the night and involve a big tent in the road, load music, drums and plenty of dancing. At one point the dancing was in the road right outside our house (see the video below) so we watched from the porch for a bit.

Some partygoers got a kick out of our kids dancing on the porch and it apparently drew the particular attention of some kids who were at the party. Funny enough this was actually our first security breach as Mia had been the last one in once we were done watching the dancing and I (Selina) had forgotten to double check that she had bolted the door securely. She had not. So you can imagine my surprise when, at 7:30pm, after one ring of the doorbell six or seven young girls in fancy dresses walked right into the house wondering if our daughter could come out to play with them! At this point our kids were already in bed so I told them to come back the next day. In all reality we didn’t think they actually would return, especially because we weren’t sure if they were from the neighborhood or had travelled to the area just for the party.

The next morning was a Sunday and we ended up staying home from church after Adam had had some really strange heartburn through the night and wasn’t feeling well (side note: he’s totally fine now!). Around 10am (a time we would have normally been at church) our doorbell rang and a little nine year old girl (we’ll call her G) from the neighborhood asked if she could play. At first I just had Mia and Des play on the porch with her, but eventually asked if she wanted to come play inside. She ended up spending five hours with us that day!

G came back the next day as well and even brought a friend at one point. We ended up being so grateful for those two days with her, especially after finding out that she was leaving for a month for a trip to a village outside of Dakar. We pray she comes back to visit when she returns!

We thought at that point that perhaps that would be the end of our visitors for awhile since G was clearly the most comfortable about coming in and hanging out with us, but apparently word got around and later in the week two more young girls stopped by asking to come play and one even brought her two year old brother! It has been so sweet to see our kids playing with these Senegalese children as this is something we have longed and prayed for, but have struggled to establish. We are prayerful that these friends will continue to come back to play, that our kids can build relationships with them and that we can also get to know their families. 

Three things of note:

  1. These opportunities have been plausible mainly on account of us homeschooling. We have the availability and the flexibility to grow these relationships, especially since we know our time with these kids will be more limited once October comes and their school starts back up. We had prayed that homeschooling would allow greater opportunities for ministry as a family and already God is answering this prayer in cool ways!
  2. Mia in particular has been very anxious about interacting with kids who don’t know any English. We think some of this anxiety may be connected to the year she spent in French school when she was unable to communicate at all. Even at our church she gets quite nervous to be around the Senegalese kids and has no desire to go to Sunday school since it’s either in French or Wolof. By God’s grace, and again in response to lots of prayer, she has had no hesitation at all being around these kids even though they only speak Wolof and a little bit of French.
  3. I was talking with a friend from Ghana who noted that the way these neighborhood kids (even the two year old) are comfortable being out and about and in our home is largely connected to the culture. In this we are so grateful to have found a way to open up our home to neighbors even though it is not something we would have thought up on our own!

Please pray with us over these relationships. For wisdom when interacting with the kids, opportunities to share the gospel and also for connections with their parents. This last point is a particularly interesting one as we’ve had four different kids over and have only met one parent so far, G’s mom. She was super nice, but only spoke Wolof so communicating was basically impossible past initial greetings. At least we gathered that she didn’t mind G being at our house, but we would love prayers on how to navigate this wisely.

-Selina

Dancing outside our front door around 6pm (the party had started in the morning).
The party still rolling at 11pm 🙂 Thankfully our kids are used to these noises and aren’t bothered!
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Visit with Papa and Dani

With the recent visit of my Dad and Dani we have officially had visits from each of our parents here in Senegal. We are so thankful for this blessing and for the immense support our family has given us, though we know it is no small sacrifice on their part for us to be here.

My Dad and Dani came for about a week, but wasted no time jumping right into life here. School was out for Adam and Mia and the trip actually fell on the Muslim holiday of Tabaski so we enjoyed uncharacteristically good traffic. On the actual day of the holiday we did a driving tour of the city and happened to go out as Senegalese families sat on their front porches and in roads slaughtering and cleaning their lambs for the meal later that day. This was certainly a cultural experience!

We were able to take them to our church Sunday as well which was very special to share with them despite the fact that it’s only in French and Wolof so they couldn’t understand anything. This was also Father’s Day so we enjoyed a lunch out to one of our favorite restaurants Eric Kayser (my dad is a huge fan of baguettes and they have the best ones in town!)

Later in the week we visited the Western-most tip of Africa (and were allowed access to it despite it being privately owned), Gorée Island, one of the more ornate mosques on the ocean and The African Renaissance Monument (which we climbed up to for the first time). We also took them to Hann Park and even walked through the Zoo.

In addition to these big outings we had lots of time together: we ate lots of different foods, drank A LOT of coffee, played Euchre (we miss this!!!) in the evenings, watched a movie (Dune 2), bought souvenirs, enjoyed the roof, drew together, read lots of books and played Playmobile (some of the kids favorite activities these days).

We cherish these special times with family and are so thankful for the sacrifice of time, money and energy that so many of our family have made to visit us in France and now in Senegal! What a gift to show them this beautiful country we call home.

– Selina

One of my favorite things – an early morning coffee date on the roof, just me and my Dad on our final day
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Thoughts from Travel in Europe

Our family had the privilege this summer of travelling for three weeks. We spent the first in Cyprus at a resort for a conference. While the amenities were luxurious in many ways (A/C, pools, someone else cooking and cleaning everything etc.), there were also similarities to Senegal as far as heat, power outages now and again, no access to certain types of food and a major language barrier (worse here since we can at least communicate in French in Senegal).

Our following two weeks however were spent in Denmark and Sweden where English is spoken by almost everyone, the weather is cool, many of the foods we miss are plentifully available, craft coffee is a staple, green spaces and parks (AND DISC GOLF!!) are abundant, walking around, biking and public transportation are all super accessible (we stayed in capital cities) and everything is SO clean!

Disc Golf in Copenhagen
Flat White and a Latte from Coffee Collective in Copenhagen

There were moments of longing for some of these things and moments of grieving our kids getting to explore nature or walk down a street with ease. Adam reveled in his cool weather runs to amazing places around Copenhagen and Stockholm. I relished having windows open to fresh, crisp air and the ability to cook in a cool kitchen with ingredients I miss. The trip actually brought on a lot of homesickness for me and longing for our family in Michigan as well which I wasn’t expecting.

Our first Airbnb in Copenhagen
One of the *many* parks we visited, this one was in Stockholm

Mixed with these emotions though, and overwhelming them, were feelings of deep gratitude. What a gift it is to live in Senegal and be growing in our understanding of the people and culture! And as an extension to that work, what a gift to then explore and experience three more cultures and countries! One day Mia figured out that at 6 years old she has already been to 10 countries! What a gift to be a part of an agency that prioritizes member care and allows time for conferences which strive to encourage, refresh and bring unity to it’s members. What a gift to have so many people and churches on our support team, invested in our family and the things God is doing in West Africa.

By the time we were wrapping up and heading home we felt that we had been thoroughly refreshed and, though a bit apprehensive about returning to the dust, heat and noise of Dakar, were ready to be home.

On that note, a cool story. We have often commented on the smell we encountered the first time we visited Senegal in 2020. As soon as we stepped off the plane it hit us. It wasn’t a bad smell, just a very distinct one. We’ve come to learn that it’s the smell of the dust in the air. As happens when you live anywhere, smells like this become a part of life and you don’t notice them anymore. When we got back home from this trip, however, we were again struck with that smell. The first time we experienced it, it was new, unfamiliar and strange. This time, however, it brought feelings of peace and comfort. We were home. This in itself is an answer to so many prayers. Senegal, especially as a location for ministry, is not an easy place to be, but it is where God has called us to be and it is home. We are so excited to be here and to see what He has in store in the months and years to come. 

-Selina

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Some Highs and Lows of International Travel with a Baby

Before leaving for Michigan I prayed a ton about the people who would be on the planes with Evie and I. Our travel to the States included a several hour flight, a ten hour layover in Paris and another several hour flight. Our travel home to Senegal was a short flight then an overnight from JFK to Dakar. Needless to say, this was daunting to anticipate, especially for someone who had never flown alone before. Throw in an 11 month old who’s teething and you just don’t know what you’re going to get.

God was so gracious to answer my prayers with amazing flight attendants who were exceptionally kind and helpful, particularly on my first flight out of Dakar, as well as neighbors who were understanding, sweet with Evie and patient with the, sometimes frequent, crying. In fact I can’t think of a single person who even side-eyed us or grimaced when Evie was struggling. That being said, it was still a grueling experience as anyone who has small children and has flown can attest to. The layover in particular felt a bit like a time warp where I just sought new positions and places that might lead to Evie napping without my back being wrecked.

There is something to be said for the energy that is produced out of excitement though. Despite the difficulty of travelling and the lack of sleep I felt very motivated to keep going and press through because I knew that, on my way to Michigan, family and friends I hadn’t seen in over two years were waiting and, on my way back to Senegal, Adam and the kids were waiting (this was the longest I had been apart from any of them).

One story in particular is worth sharing. Let me preface by saying that before I left Mia kept saying that she was praying for me to be able to share about Jesus with the people next to me on the planes. After our first flight I felt like that was going to be a long shot. I wasn’t talking to my seat mates, I was just surviving and trying desperately to prevent Evie from kicking them or chucking toys at them.

However, on our final flight which was the seven hour overnight from JFK to Dakar I had just that opportunity.

Unlike all our previous flights in which we sat in rows with three or four seats this final flight was just us and one other seat (Evie was on my lap for the flights). As each person boarded and came our way I wondered if they might be our neighbor for this trip, the unlucky person to be trapped against the window by a mom and her baby.

A young woman around my age approached with a kind smile and slid in beside us. We shared some small talk before settling in for the flight. It was quickly apparent that she was a very laid back and kind woman, interacting easily with Evie and chatting freely with me. She asked how Evie did flying and I shared about the exhausting journey we had had to get to Michigan two weeks prior. I told her about how Adam and I had travelled with two young kids before but it was easier because, even with more kids, you always had a second person to help. To that she replied, “Let me be your second person for this flight.”

And she was. Anything I needed she was happy to help with from keeping my meal and coffee on her tray since I couldn’t unfold mine with Evie sleeping on me (something that had caused me to skip the meals on previous flights) to helping me collect all my luggage after we had gotten off our flight (for reference: I had two bins, two suitcases, a car seat and a stroller to collect on top of all of the things I had with me on the plane which included a diaper bag, a laptop bag, a carry-on suitcase and Evie in a carrier).

After eating Evie passed out and stayed that way for several hours which was no small miracle and I found out our kind neighbor wasn’t able to sleep on planes and was open to chatting so we got to talking about our lives.

I found out she is from Israel and was headed to Dakar for a work trip. She’s married to a man from Africa, but they are living in New York City, a dream of hers. I shared about our life in Senegal and why we were there. We spent a long time talking about faith. She is a secular Jew, but vividly remembered meeting Christians for the first time on a short term trip to Haiti and her husband is actually a Christian. We talked about the hurt and brokenness in the world, so clearly apparent in places like Haiti and her homeland right now. I shared about the hope I have in Jesus, for this life and for eternity. We talked until I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer. It was such a sweet time and so unexpected. I’m staying in contact with this awesome lady and hope she continues to ask questions about the gospel and that one day she might know Jesus personally as her Savior.

God provides in the coolest ways!

– Selina

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We Have a Car!

Since arriving in Senegal one year and four months ago we have always said that we knew we would get the right car at the right time, that being in God’s time. With this mindset we’ve had a lot of peace in the waiting.

Initially we found that the funds we had raised for a car were not enough to cover the type of car we need here as used cars (and new) are very expensive here in Senegal. To illustrate this, in our adult lives Adam and I have purchased four cars before this one. We paid more for this car (a 7 year-old car) than those other four combined!

Through the gracious giving of many supporters we had reached an amount at the end of last year which allowed us to expand our search, encompassing cars that fit the criteria we had.

A couple of months ago we were pursuing a car that seemed promising. Adam was actually in final talks with the owner as far as negotiating price and other details, although for some reason we didn’t feel total peace about the situation. The week that we were set to move forward with paperwork on that car we bought a desk from another missionary family in our community. 

They drove over to drop the desk off at our house and I stood outside talking with them for a bit. Adam was just arriving home from an errand and walked up to join the conversation. Off handedly the husband of this couple mentioned that they were thinking of getting a new car soon and would likely be selling their current one. Amazingly, their car was a very similar type to the one we were about to buy! We chatted for a bit about how serious they were on selling and expressed our deep desire to buy a car.

Adam immediately put things on hold with the first car and proceeded to go through the process of evaluating if this new car would be a good fit for us. Buying a car here is a much more complicated process than in the States but we are so thankful for this other family (the previous owners of the car) as well as other friends who are good with cars and were able to be a more informed pair of eyes in looking at it.

After several weeks we decided to move forward and this family felt good about selling. Adam and the husband reached a fair price and negotiated the details. We are immeasurably grateful for the smoothness of this process as both our families desired to protect our relationship with one another as brothers and sisters in Christ above haggling to the lowest (or highest in their case) price.

About a week ago we officially bought the car and feel like we are in a renewed honeymoon phase! There are too many ways to list why this car is such a huge blessing to our family, but one of the biggest is making us feel so much more settled here in Dakar. We are so grateful.

If you are someone who has supported us on an ongoing basis, through one-time gifts, in response to our specific request for car funds last year or through prayer for a car…THANK YOU! We know it is God who provides, but we are so thankful for the many people He chooses to use in that provision.

Much love,

Selina

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Near Disaster at the Embassy

This month we had to visit the United States Embassy to renew my passport. Adam, Desmond, Evie and I went, borrowing a friend’s car to avoid having to taxi. We snagged my new passport photos at a little photo shop on the way and arrived on time for our appointment.

Upon checking in with the guard standing outside we were directed to wait in the “waiting room” which is a patch of dirt and sparse trees across the street from the embassy. When we were allowed to do the next step of check-in at the outer window we found out that only Evie and I were going to be allowed inside. The embassy is extremely strict on security measures including restricting how many people are inside at one time and doing these various checks before allowing anyone in. When we had done Evie’s passport several months earlier our whole family had gone inside so we thought that would be the case for this appointment as well, however for an adult passport it turns out that entrance is restricted to just the adult renewing (and in this case Evie since she’s a baby needing to stay with me).

In the ensuing hurry of divvying up our belongings based off what I would need with Evie and what Adam would need with Desmond I ended up with just the diaper bag and headed inside to go through the metal detectors and bag scanners. I placed my bag, sunglasses and paperwork in the bin. There are no electronics allowed inside so I didn’t have my phone with me. Then I went through the metal detector with Evie, exchanging some Wolof greetings with the guard ushering me through and feeling quite proud of myself for the interaction.

I turned to get my bag and the guards doing the bag checks asked me, “Avez-vous un couteau dans ce sac?”; “Do you have a knife in this bag?”. Thinking it was just a standard question I chuckled and said “No”. After a pause though I realized that they were intently staring at the scanner view of my bag and then it hit me. A couple of weeks ago we had had a picnic and I had thrown a butter knife into the diaper bag! Panicked I started to explain. With wide, incredulous eyes they handed me the bag so I could remove the knife. Through profuse apologies I went back through the metal detectors and thankfully caught Adam before he had walked away so I could give him the knife.

I hurriedly walked back through security, with plenty more apologies, and went out of the security building. From there I went to the next building and sat down. At this point you are sitting in a big, blessedly air conditioned room in rows of chairs. The guard at the entrance to this room tells you which person you’re going to go after and you receive a number (not sure why both are needed). Eventually you hear your number or see that the person before you was the last one to go and you head up to one of the windows along the front of the room.

As I sat there, finally beginning to stop sweating from panic and embarrassment, I decided to verify that all my paperwork and photos had made it with me in the shuffle. Which is when I realized that while I had try to sneak a weapon into the embassy, I had not brought any money with me. The passport renewal is a closed process once in this room – you go up to a window and give them your application and old passport then walk down to another window to pay and bring a receipt of payment back to the original window. Air conditioning or not I’m sweating again wondering what to do and really hoping not to have to go back through the security. And once outside I would have to hopefully track Adam down since I didn’t have my phone to contact him.

By God’s grace another family from Mia’s school happened to have a passport appointment at the exact same time for their baby and were sitting behind me. They could thankfully cover me and I made it out without any further issue. In fact the guards even shared a genial laugh with me on the way out as I once again offered apologies.

While not necessarily the most ideal Embassy visit it certainly makes for a good story! Life is never dull in West Africa.

-Selina

* photo above of Des passed out on the way home from the appointment…which is what I looked like once we got home 🙂

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Heading into our Second Year

*I originally typed this out a month ago, but the weeks have been full which is why I’m only just posting 🙂

As we press on into Year 2 we are thankful for the many reminders of how much more settled we feel now and we look forward to continuing to plant deeper roots over this next year.

For example, we have started running into different events that we were here for last year like cool season, Ramadan, events at Mia’s school and so on.
It also dawned on me recently that I used to be so stressed by the doorbell ringing, which was a bummer since it usually happens multiple times each day, but now I feel very comfortable answering it and even have a rhythm with our various vendors (fish guy once a week, fruit guy every day, trash pick up, lemon guy several times a week etc.).

Conversations in French feel less daunting – although this is still one of the greatest areas for growth that we see. We have a better idea of where to get groceries from to get the best prices and which times of day are better for traffic. We have relationships in the various spheres of our life here including several really close Christian friends, which was something I was deeply craving this time last year. Our kids enjoy their lives here and are at ease when at home and out. We’re all picking up phrases in the local language, Wolof.

There is still SO much to learn, especially in language, culture, team dynamics, how to do ministry here, what church involvement looks like and so on, but we are in awe of the way God has worked and we feel confident that He has great things in store for the rest of this year. We continue to feel so blessed to get to live in Senegal.

Thank you for your part in this journey!

-Selina