Warm Welcome

We received a “warm” welcome on our return to Niamey from our holidays in Ghana. The temperature was at least 10 degrees warmer. The winds had changed direction and had left their calling card on my house, a nice thick layer of fine sand (note: this sand is orange not the white that you see at the ocean or the beige that I usually think of when I hear the word sand, having grown up on the shores of the great lakes. It is also fine enough to enter any crack or crevice that exists and my house has many of those so EVERYTHING was very thoroughly coated.) The cockroaches had come out to greet us but died waiting—we found 20 of them in our master bathroom alone not to mention the rest of the house, but at least they were all dead. I much prefer that to the living kind! We also had new friends that had moved in with us while we were away-- somehow ants had found their way into the kitchen. Our car greeted us with three flat tires, one that we had expected because we have been nursing it along adding air at least once a day, the other two were just a bonus. Just like an animal lets you know that it isn’t pleased that you left it at home when you went away our car did two things to let us know that it didn’t like being left; the one tire that we had to repair the first day we arrived back in town went flat again the next day (that along with the spare) and in addition it has also developed this nice back fire when you are driving that it didn’t do before. I think that it is trying to tell us something and I’m not sure I like it or trust it to get me where I want to go. It is a good thing that I rarely have to go anywhere without Dave because he doesn’t seem to mind driving it.

I am smiling as I write this because for one it’s true and not an exaggeration, secondly because it has all been dealt with (except maybe the heat and that is just life in Niger—and I know that the “cold” season will come eventually. Oh and the car is still backfiring, but I don’t have to think about that until Thursday morning when I have to drive myself to mom’s prayer meeting at the school and there is still a chance that I can talk Dave into taking me.), so it is in the past and not my present reality and thirdly because it was ok at the time because I had come back well rested and was able to cope with what we found. God is good and thank you to everyone who was praying for us!

Lately, I have been reading Psalm 36 and I really like vs 5-7 “Your love, O Lord reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep. O Lord, you preserve both man and beast. How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings.” I like the pictures that it paints in my mind of God’s glorious creation and how much more amazing is his love and provision for us. It seems to be a theme that had been coming up for me lately between snatches of songs and just generally meditating on Him, His greatness and His word. My prayer for you is that you will have opportunities to sense His love, faithfulness, righteousness and refuge this week.

Oh, I almost forgot, my praise item is that I got a washing machine this week. Also I found out this week that neither of the boys have teachers lined up for next year. Please pray that God is preparing someone even now to meet this need for the boys’ school for next year.