A lot of my pictures lately have been taken on the soccer (FOOTBALL) field. There are a lot of students we've gotten to know well this year, and a number of them are soccer players. I've enjoyed watching the games to see how they are doing... and finding myself with some fun pictures as a result!
** note that everywhere in the world except the U.S., soccer is known as football! I'd just gotten used to calling it football while living in Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire, and now finding that at Dakar Academy, it's called soccer again! I'm confused. :0
(He is the one who brought Stellan to birth.)
While others slumber, He does not sleep;
He holds us firm, our lives He keeps.
May He keep me firmly from evil today,
May He give peace and trust as for Stellan we pray.
From now and for forevermore,
We ask You, help us trust Your door--
the comings in, the goings out
are in Your plan, we need not doubt.
You shade our days, You guard our nights,
We rest in Your unchanging might.
(thoughts in rhyme this morning as we pray for baby Stellan and his family, for wisdom for the doctors and a successful surgery today in Boston! Psalm 121 )
We spent a few days away at a resort with our colleagues for a conference... with time for meetings, as well as time for refreshing, hiking, swimming and wonderful meals! One of my favorite occupations was taking pictures, and I was thrilled to have a photo session happen with a troop of monkeys! They run wild all over the resort, and I happened to find them near me and just hung out with them for an hour! I loved being so close to them, and this was one of my favorite pictures.
I loved the faces of these quirky animals. Called "ships of the desert", they've been created with so many physical features that allow them to thrive in harsh desert conditions. Once again, I'm blessed by God's amazing attention to details.
I still can't get over my night in the desert. I wouldn't really have wanted to stay longer than one night, unless I could have somehow gotten out of the sand, had a hot shower, and different food... but I definitely did not get my fill of the unique beauty.
The pictures don't show the cold wind, constantly whipping sand in our faces, in our cameras, etc. Our tracks marred the pristine sand for only moments before the wind blew all traces of us away again.
Tonight on the way to the restaurant where we celebrated our 27th anniversary , we passed this "house." Note that the lion's teeth are the balcony, and there is a man standing there, who doesn't reach the top of the tooth! I left the trees in for perspective-- this is a LARGE house! I can't help but wonder who would think of something like this... and why!
We enjoyed a lovely few hours at the beach today... sunny, breezy... it was actually very chily. And VERY pretty!
The tree in our back courtyard is beginning to bear fruit. We didn't plant the tree, but have nurtured it along since 2005 when we moved into this house. At first our gardener told us he thought it was an orange tree... but more recently he says "citron" which could be lemon or lime.
The flowers are incredibly fragrant, and we will pick and sample the fruit in the days ahead.
(And at that point we might have a better idea of what it really is.
To me it looks like the lemons sometimes sold in the markets here, yellow fruit but more softball shaped than the lemons we are used to in the States. Limes as we know them in the States are called lemons over here too... maybe the distinction between the two is not really all that important!! )
Love to see these women gracefully, systematically gathering their firewood...
From high up on the lighthouse hill, this view of the Grande Mosque near the ocean, with the city in the background is quite impressive. I love the fishing boats lined up on the shore.
We drove to the lighthouse at the top of the hill, and enjoyed finding cats perched in various places around the beat-up building.
