Christmas 2008 - Part 1

Christmas 2008-Part 1

Merry Christmas! We wanted to share some pictures of a party and program we were glad to attend. First, we enjoyed a Christmas party with other IMB missionaries last Friday evening. On Sunday Lucas and Alexis were part of the children's program at the French church where we attend. Alexis was an adorable angel and Lucas was quite the happy wise man. Check out these cute pics by clicking on our family picture above.

Tree Baths and Snowballs

Tree bath and Snowballs

We have incorporated new traditions into our Christmas season and we'd like to share them with you. The first thing we did this year was give our Christmas tree a bath. Yes, in a bathtub! Another missionary family let us borrow their tree but we had to get all the dust off it first. Lucas and Alexis loved helping with that! Then we taught the kids how to have a snowball fight with cottonballs. This was even more fun one evening when the kids and I hid behind a mat and surprised Dan with a bunch of "snowballs" when he came home from work! I (Allison) have also had fun making paper Christmas crafts with the kids like stars, candy canes, stockings, reindeer and a wreath. Plus it helps us decorate our home! We have also enjoyed using an advent calendar each evening as we prepare to celebrate (as Lucas calls it) "God's Birthday".

We also have a few pictures from an adventure we had last weekend as we visited Goree Island. This is a famous tourist attraction for an infamous reason as it was a huge part of the slave trade. But we enjoyed visiting the island on a beautiful Saturday morning.

To Sleep or Not to Sleep

Part of our weekly routine here in Dakar includes taking medications for the prevention of malaria. This is particularly important since we live one block from a swamp. Well, most medicines have side effects and what we take to prevent malaria is no exception. Only Alexis seems to suffer from a side effect and unfortunately it seems to be insomnia. So, what do you do with a child who isn't the tiniest bit tired from 12:30am to 6:00am? Well, we had to figure that out yesterday so let me tell you! For the first two hours we kept calling to her and telling her to go back to sleep. After she cried and asked for water the 9th time we let her sit in our bed. Yes, she sat between Dan and I for 2 hours and then started wiggling. That was too much for me so Dan got up and read a book with her for 30 minutes in the living room. Now it's 5am and we bring her back to our bed. She lays there some more and finally falls asleep at 6am for a whole 2 hours. It was unbelievable and we were so tired. Guess who wasn't? Lucas AND Alexis! What a day it was!

Happy Thanksgiving!

November Happenings

Thanks for your patience in looking at our Thanksgiving pictures as we quickly approach Christmas! We had a great Thanksgiving meal with over 50 IMB personnel. We had quite the food spread as well as a worship time, craft time and football time (these are DVDs of past games). We also had some extra time for shopping so you'll have to check out Lucas' new outfit!

November Happenings

November Happenings

Here's part one of pictures we took in November. Here's a fun quote for you! We were eating mandarin oranges the other day and Lucas said, "Mom, I don't like them. They're too orangey!" Have a super day!

Praying for our friends

Alexis praying

Alexis is here praying for our really good friends who are IMB missionaries in Costa Rica. Please join us in praying for Aaron, Gabrielle, Mylee and Evie Woods as they work through language school. Hey, we love you guys! We also have a link to their blog if you would like to read more about their family.

Nice Sunny Days!

October 2008 family pics

We have been taking so many pictures that we didn't realize we were getting behind putting them on the blog. These are pictures from the end of October. Enjoy...we'll have more soon!

What Are You Doing?

A Common Sight in Dakar

Can you guess what Dan is doing? Here's the answer! Drum roll please....Dan is brushing his teeth!
Yes, this is fun to watch and it's even more fun to buy one of these toothbrushes. There are different kinds and colors of sticks and depending on which one you buy you might also be helping your headache, stomach ache or other medical ailment. What a handy little thing!

African Style!

African Style

We are beginning to adjust to all the differences we encounter in Africa but we are still surprised everyday by new sights. Here is a glimpse of a few...

Happy Birthday Alexis!

Alexis celebrated her 2nd Birthday on October 29, 2008! She enjoyed opening a few presents and playing with them at home all day. We opened her gifts from the grandparents in front of the computer while they watched on Skype. The next evening we took Alexis' friend, Hannah, with us as we went out for ice cream to celebrate her birthday in another fun way.

Alexis' B-day pics for Blog

A "Duh" Moment!

Our family decided to take a sunset drive by the ocean tonight. As we were pulling out, we rolled down the windows to let the hot air out of the truck. I mentioned that it was a little strange to feel cool air as we drove down the street. Dan said, "that's because I just turned the A/C on." Duh! It was such a totally weird moment because I think I'd forgotten what air conditioning feels like!

Harvest Fest

Harvest Fest 2008

Here are a few pictures from the wonderful evening we enjoyed at Dakar Academy. Harvest Fest was put on by the students and teachers as a fundraising event. We sure had lots and lots of fun!!

Life in the Foreman Home, Part 2

Life in the Foreman Home, Part 2

Click on the picture and check out some more fun pictures!

Goose, Goose, GOOSE

One of the awesome things about having language class four mornings a week is that we have plenty of time as a family to work on adapting to our new life here in Dakar. It also forces us as parents to be more creative as we have lots more time to play with our kids. This past week we decided to teach Lucas & Alexis how to play "Duck, duck, goose." Things went pretty well although they haven't totally figured out which way to run and how many times to run around the circle. Anyway, Alexis would get so excited she would just say "goose, goose, GOOSE"! You'd have to listen to her voice inflection to know if you were the chosen "GOOSE"!

Alexis astonished us with her language perception the other night. We were playing at the local missionary school when a man came up and said "hello" to her in English. She responded not only in French but also with the proper greeting for that time of day. He was as amazed as we were! He was an African man and we realized she has already made the connection of what language to use when speaking to Africans.

Life in the Foreman Home, Part 1

Life in the Foreman Home, Part 1

Here are some recent pictures of the kids.

Playing at Dakar Academy

Playing at Dakar Academy

Click on the picture to see more pictures!

Hot and Happy!

We were singing along to a Hillsong Kids Worship DVD when Lucas turned to Dan and asked, "Do you want to jump and get sweaty with me?" The really funny part is that we'd been without electricity for awhile and we already were sweaty!

Tina, a young lady who watches our kids while we're in French class, took our kids for a walk to get candy this morning. We asked Lucas where they went. He replied, "The store by our house with all the flies." So true! :-)

Pictures of Life in Our Home

A Few Foreman Tales

An Alexis Story - Alexis was putting on her tennis shoes without socks and began calling for help. She said there was something in her shoe and wanted it out. I (Allison) figured it was sand from the night before so I took her shoe off and dumped it upside down. Out came a 2 inch cockroach! That was quite a surprise and we quickly took care of him. I'll never figure out quite how that roach and Alexis' foot all fit in the same little shoe. I do know that we've been much more thorough in checking our shoes before putting them on!

A Lucas Story - Lucas woke up one morning about a week ago and talked about wanting to put on long sleeves because he was chilly. WHAT??? Has his body adjusted to Africa that quickly already? The rest of us were glad that it was at least somewhat cool because we know it will disappear in about 30 minutes!

An Allison Story - I was teaching a flute lesson last week (Isn't that cool? I never thought I'd get to do that here!)and my student mentioned hearing that this was now the beginning of the HOT season. I knew it felt a bit warmer than normal the last 2 days but I really thought we were already in the HOT season. Rats! At least we had a good warmup (ha, ha!) to what it's really like! :-)

A Dan Story - Dan has been safely driving us through the city of Dakar and what a challenge that can sometimes be! I'm not sure that I (Allison) will be ready to tackle the intensity of that challenge any time soon. Our kids however love the bumpy roads and the "fast roads". They like to cheer "Go, daddy, go!" Dan has also been perfecting some cooking techniques especially in the areas of a hot Apple Crisp dessert and pancakes from scratch. It's great having such cheerful help in the kitchen because he always whistles while he works! :-)

A Rainy Story - About a week ago, I (Allison) had something in my dream wake me up. I saw our curtains being blown almost horizontal by a very cool breeze. I said, "Dan, it's a big one!" He thought I was still sleeping and talking about a bug. Nope! I jumped up and closed our bedrooms windows and then we raced through the house to close the rest. We didn't make it to the living room in time and a whole bunch of sand blew in. Then it rained like I've never seen before! The wind blew so hard it was raining sideways. Wow! The rains here in Dakar always seem to start with that strong cool breeze and usually in less than a minute there is blowing sand then rain. We love it because the temperature really drops and we can finally cool off!

Out & About in Dakar

August in Dakar

August 2008

Here are some pictures taken during the first few weeks of August, 2008. Click and enjoy!

Pictures from Abidjan, Ivory Coast

Advance 2008 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast

Here are some pictures of the week we spent in Abidjan July 25-August 2, 2008. Click on the picture for more pictures.

Fun in Sunday School!

We've been attending the International Baptist Church of Dakar. Their services are in English and they sing a mix of American hymns and African worship songs. It takes a few verses to learn to clap on the right beats here! We've chosen to attend here for now because Tina, our childcare helper, attends here. We thought it might help Lucas & Alexis to make a better connection seeing her in our home and in our church.

Because the services are 2 hours long, the kids & I (Allison) stay for the first 30 minutes and then head to the kids class. Today there wasn't a teacher in their class yet so I stayed with Lucas and Alexis. I'd stayed with them the last 2 weeks so I kinda knew where things were. Soon 2 more kids joined us. Then one by one the ushers kept bringing more children. Then a mom brought her daughter and asked if I was the new teacher. Hmmm!!! Pretty soon I had 15 children between 14 months and 5 years and it was quite an experience! Some time later the teacher I'd seen before finally arrived. I think I may have found a great way to minister in a practical way! :-)

Our first few weeks in Dakar

Our 1st few weeks in Dakar

Click on the picture and more pictures will be available.

5 Interesting things we do each week...

1. Break apart our cereal each morning so it will actually pour into our bowl. The humidity makes it form into one mass inside the box.
2. Hurry to carry our garbage to the trash pile at the end of the street when we hear the garbage truck honk. Usually we get 3 honks but sometimes only 1!
3. Decide which room has the best breeze for taking a nap with no electricity.
4. Buy enough mandarin oranges to feed our family. We eat about 2 kilos (4 pounds) every week! This is our new favorite family fruit!
5. When the kids are playing outside we must decide which piece of trash is actually too dirty for them to play with! :-)

A Fun Little Story

Lucas and Alexis were playing in our living room when Lucas decided he was going to teach a French class and Alexis would be his student. This was what he'd seen mom and dad do the first few days they had class at home. (Now we have class at the Financial office.) He had Alexis sit in a chair across from him and he said to her, "Alexis, repeat after me. HOLA". We just laughed and laughed because HOLA is actually the Spanish word for hello.

American Swimming Pool to...

 

African Swimming Pool!

 

Our New Apartment in Dakar

Our new apartment in Dakar

Click on the picture and you will be taken to a website where you can view more pictures.

News from Dakar

Bonjour family & friends! We have just finished our first day of French and wow you really learn a lot in a 3 hour chunk. Dan and I will be heading off to practice all these new vowels and word/sound combos soon. We got to practice a little with the fruit guy who came by. We usually try to go for a walk each night because Lucas needs time to run with the neighborhood kids and we need opportunities to talk with people.

So, let's begin with a typical morning. The house helper across the street begins sweeping the street at about 6:30am. Because all our windows (w/screens because we live near a swamp...and lots of bugs) are open all night, this used to be kind of an alarm clock for me. Now I just sleep thru it and the kids usually wake us up about 7:30am. Ah, breakfast. We do have cereal every morning. We eat the generic cereals which are cheaper ($2-$3 per box). We really like "boules de mais" - little balls of corn. They look like "Corn Pops" cereal but taste like "Captain Crunch." We do buy Kellogg's Rice Krispies for Alexis because they are her favorite but only she gets to eat them because they are almost $8 a box! Milk is interesting. Thankfully our kids have responded well to the whole milk taste. Milk comes in one liter bottles that cost almost $3 each. So, milk is only for breakfast and we drink water at all other times just to stay hydrated.

One encouraging tidbit we've learned from the other missionaries is to celebrate the small victories. So, when the electricity goes out and we still prepare a decent meal-VICTORY! When we can speak French or buy something new from a vendor-VICTORY! we really do count our blessings at the end of each day.

One prayer request we do have is that there is talk about the water pipes in our area being worked on sometime in the near future. The latest word is that we might be 3 days without water. I guess pray that they can work quickly so it doesn't take that long. Also, please pray the our electricity does work during that time because that could certainly push some comfort limits, ya know?

Our First Week in Dakar, Senegal

Saturday – We arrive and spend the first night in our new home, a first floor apartment with 3 bedrooms and 3 baths. We have a small courtyard (“backyard”) for our kids to play in which is super!
Sunday – Several missionary families took us out to eat at a restaurant by the ocean. Lucas loved the view!
Monday – We met with Henriette, our house helper. She began working for us the next day and helps with laundry (washing by hand and ironing), cleaning, mopping, dishes and eventually we’ll ask her to cook some Senegalese meals for us. Dan also had his first driving adventure as our family went to a local restaurant for pizza! This was our first experience trying something on our own with our French dictionary. 
Tuesday – A missionary took us on a tour of 3 grocery stores in our neighborhood. They all offer something different so you learn to shop where for what you need that day. We also learned how to prepare fruits and some other foods as they have to be soaked in bleach water before they can be eaten. We also ate our first chawarma. It’s a sandwich of beef or chicken on a hoagie-like roll with French fries inside. Very interesting.
Wednesday – We visited a large supermarket because it was discount day! Then we tried our washing machine which Lucas thinks sounds like an airplane taking off in the bathroom. He’s right!
Thursday – Our kids were invited to a missionary’s house to swim and play. What fun! Later we learned how to clean our water filter.
Friday – Allison made her first big meal – spaghetti! Ha, ha! We can do this without electricity because we have a gas stove/oven. The oven doesn’t have degrees just the numbers 1-9 so we’re guessing on temperatures right now! Lucas and Alexis had fun meeting some neighborhood children.

Happy Birthday!

 Lucas celebrated his 3rd Birthday on July 8 with a baseball theme.

We can have fun anywhere!

 

Commissioning Service at ILC

&nbs

Havin' Fun!

 Alexis also adjusted quickly and enjoyed her classes each day.

I'm a giraffe!

 Lucas loved his classes at the International Learning Center.

We like airplanes!

 Lucas and Alexis enjoy watching a DVD.

Leaving Virginia

 Lucas and Alexis enjoying a ride!

Lucas and Alexis at the park

 

We are nearing the end of orientation and will be flying back to Omaha on June 27. We have had a great time here and we're looking forward to our time in Nebraska and then on to Dakar, Senegal! We are praising God for all He has done in our lives these past several weeks. Many of you know that we have been praying for Alexis these last few weeks and all of her tests so far have come back normal so we expect to get medical clearance this week. Thank you for your continued prayers for her!

A Great First Week!

Well, We have just completed our first week of orientation at the International Learning Center and everything went so smoothly! Lucas and Alexis loved their classes and adjusted very quickly to the new schedule. Dan and I have enjoyed the classes and making many new friends. Yesterday our family was first in line for the first of 3 immunization clinics. We all got shots except for Lucas and he was quite pleased to be left out! Alexis didn't mind the shot so much as long as she didn't have to wear that bandaid. :-)

We have another immunization clinic next Friday as well as a project we must complete to prepare to live in our West Africa region. We will be spending the weekend without electricity and cooking from scratch. That should be a fun adventure for all our us! Thank you for all your prayers! We have experienced God working in our lives each day. Thank you also for praying for Lucas and Alexis. God has really answered the prayers for them to transition smoothly to spending their days at school instead of with mom. Until next time!

A Day Of Blessings!

God is so SUPER! Thank you for all your prayers! Our flights into Virginia went so well yesterday and our kids loved every minute of it! Lucas talked nonstop during the entire 2 hour flight which did start at 5:30am. Waking our kids up at 3:30am didn't seem to slow them down a bit! Once we arrived in Norfolk, VA we took a 2 hour bus ride to the International Learning Center and again, Lucas talked the entire 2 hours. His curiosity was at an all-time high! We praise God for going ahead of us to make our day so smooth!

Pictures From the Past Few Weeks

Headin' Out Soon!

Hello everyone! We just received our new travel plans and we will be leaving Monday, May 12 at 5:30am. YIKES! That is SO early so please pray for our whole family to have good flights. We will arrive in Virginia Monday afternoon and we begin our classes bright and early Tuesday morning. Whew! The speed of our lives will double very quickly very soon!

Dan was able to speak at another church this past Sunday to gather more prayer support! We were very thankful for that opportunity! We head to Iowa this weekend to quickly see all of Dan's relatives. We'll get to visit several farms and our kids just love to see all the animals. Please continue to be in prayer for Lucas & Alexis as they adjust to all the changes. The past week has been rough for them at times. We are all ready for a regular routine! Thanks again for all your prayers!

Big Schedule Change!!

We just received a call from the folks at the International Learning Center in Richmond and there is some kind of virus going around their campus and no one is allowed to come until May 12! We had planned on leaving at 7:00am this Monday but now will not leave for two more weeks. Obviously we are surprised but we were told to prepare to be flexible, so here is our first lesson.

We are not sure yet what our plans will be for the next two weeks but we look forward to some additional down time to prepare spiritually for all that is ahead of us. We have also purchased some French books and a DVD to begin learning the French language. We had an opportunity to meet with a pastor in Fremont, NE whose brother is a missionary in Dakar, Senegal. It was neat to hear some firsthand information from him as he was in Dakar last summer. He stressed the importance of learning as much French as we can, so please pray for us as we try to do just that.

Thank you again for your continued prayers. Please remember to pray for the people of Dakar that the light of Christ will shine through a very dark city.

God is Good

God is continuing to answer prayers as we prepare to leave for Richmond on Monday, April 28! Over the weekend we sold our Plymouth Neon, thanks to our good friends at craigslist.

We had a great time sharing about our mission trip at the First Baptist Church in Fremont, NE on Sunday and look forward to sharing with other churches this week. God is blessing us with many faithful prayer partners from all over the Midwest!

We also just learned that our flight leaves Omaha for Richmond at 7:00am, so please pray for us as we look forward to a short night and the first plane trip with our kids. We are having a great week with our family and friends as we continue to prepare for our journey.

Playing

Here are a few pictures of Lucas and Alexis playing with their friends Mylee and Evie Woods at Toddler Town. What a fun day we had and how much we will miss them. Stay tuned for more fun posts to come.