January 16: campement sunrise(january 4)

January 7: crabby

I'm not quite ready to edit and post the rest of my pictures but these are such fun!

Happy New Year from the Deckers in Dakar!

December 8: DeckerUpdate

Dear friends and family,

"What hope we hold this starlit night,
a King is born in Bethlehem.
Our journey long, we seek the light
that leads to the hallowed manger ground

Emmanuel, Emmanuel.
God incarnate here to dwell.
Emmanuel, Emmanuel.
Praise His name Emmanuel!" (from Glory in the Highest: Christmas Songs of Worship by Chris Tomlin.)

This Advent season we are thankful to rejoice in the hallowed manger ground where Jesus came to dwell among men. Because of His life, and death on our behalf, we can appreciate the joy of Christmas now as well as the joy of eternal life with Him!

December 3: Nativity set

December 1: beginning to look like Christmas...

November 26: Thanksgiving in Dakar

We are thankful for so many blessings! This year our team Thanksgiving group was much smaller than the previous years, because we are missing several families who have left or are on home assignment! But we enjoyed a lovely meal, complete with turkey, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and our overseas traditional chocolate cream!

Holiday Traditions in Dakar: Turkey Bowl

One of our fun holiday traditions here is Turkey Bowl. The day before American Thanksgiving, school ends at noon, and the afternoon is spent in an American Flag Football tournament. The junior class serves great food, and people hang out to eat and watch football. This year Jacob didn't play, but enjoyed eating and watching games with his friends, while Dave refereed some of the kids games as well as playing in the mens game. I think this picture was after his touchdown!

November 22: holiday preparations

On the way home from a retreat weekend, we watched preparations for the holiday Tabaski which is at the end of this week. Huge lots filled with rams for sale... and once you purchase your ram, how do you get him home?

November 19: for sale in your neighborhood...

Small lots are filling quickly with rams to be sold for the Tabaski holiday coming up at the end of this month! This one is just outside our office window.

October 30-November 1: Senior Outreach

Dave and Jacob took off Friday after school for a weekend of work, play, and reaching out to villagers in Senegal with most of the DA Senior Class and sponsors. It was a great experience for them, and Dave took some wonderful pictures. Click to see more of them on flickr or more yet (with captions!) on Dave's facebook album.

October 23: Harvest Fest

The Dakar Deckers were all involved in the 2009 Dakar Academy Harvest Fest Down-Under! Jacob ran a "chicken chasing" booth with one of his friends, which seemed to go over well with the little kids. The bigger kids had fun when the chickens escaped from the pen! I clipped the wings of one rooster, hoping to keep him in the pen, but he managed to jump out anyway. Dave kept busy grilling, relieving kids at their booths so they could get a bite to eat, and selling drinks... while I walked all over the campus helping out and troubleshooting as needed. We had a great time, and we're all tired out now that it's over! We feel privileged to be senior class sponsors, and love working with these students!

October 17: rain!

After three weeks without a drop of rain, we got a downpour last night. Dave and I were almost finished with our nice dinner at a restaurant near our house when the deluge began. We waited about 1/2 hour to see if it would let up, but finally decided we needed to leave. The drive home was a challenge, with flooded roads and a low car. In several places I thought the car would float away! This pic is after the worst parts, but still gives an idea of how much water came down! (It doesn't look as deep as it was in reality but this gives you at least a sense of it!)

October 5: scenes from Liberia

Dave arrived home on Friday afternoon, so glad to be back on his scheduled return-day! This is not something we take for granted when traveling around West Africa!

His trip went well, with many hours of talking and listening to team members. Please continue to pray for their leadership needs! (The acting director is leaving earlier-than-planned because of health concerns.)

He was able to be part of a "men's night out" with the SIM'ers there... they brought sandwiches to the top of the Ducor hotel and got ice-cream afterwards.

He also got to visit with some of our many Liberian friends-- who are the reason we love Liberia so much!