July 24: enjoying vacation

We are still enjoying vacation time at the cabin, with a few visitors and lots of fun in the water! Here's Dave teaching our nephew the fine art of "tubing"!

more pictures from the cabin are online here

enjoy!

July 21: Decker Update

Dear friends and family--

Greetings from "Home Assignment!" It's been awhile since I've written an official update, but many of you know we are now based in Minnesota until early January. The days of packing our house in Senegal seemed very hectic, as we tried to tie up many loose ends before leaving. To this point, our house in Senegal has not been rented, and is being cared for by colleagues and Senegalese helpers. We would love to see someone be able to live there for even a few months, so you could continue to pray for that.

softball game

softball game, originally uploaded by MaryD SN-MN.

We enjoyed watching our niece play at her softball tournament, and enjoyed my brother as the coach as well!

cousin Laura

cousin Laura, originally uploaded by MaryD SN-MN.

One of the fun parts of the summer was getting to see cousin Laura before she moved to Washington DC!

croquet with Dakar friends!

croquet with Adamsons, originally uploaded by MaryD SN-MN.

The guys enjoyed a game of croquet with our friends the Adamsons, who were with us both in Abidjan and Dakar. They're on home assignment this year as well.

Benjamin

We were happy (especially Joey!) to host Benjamin for a few days in his transition between Senegal and college in Texas!

knee-hockey

One of the first things that got unpacked from our boxes when we got to our furlough house was the knee-hockey equipment! Many tournaments have been played in the basement here, and constantly skinned knees are the order of the day!

July 4

July 4, originally uploaded by MaryD in Senegal.

We are off on an adventure-- taking the train downtown, to enjoy the riverside happenings and watch some fireworks. Danny has joined us, and it's fun to be all together in Minnesota!

June 27

Dear Friends,

This is not a real update-- just a quick note!

We are thankful to have arrived safely in Minnesota after several days in Washington DC (staying with relatives, and sightseeing!) and several days in Charlotte, NC where we had medical appointments and interviews with SIM USA folks. We are thankful for the structure and support provided by SIM, and we will be telling you more about that in the days ahead.

We were happy to be greeted by friends and relatives in Minnesota last Thursday, and have been enjoying fresh strawberries, blueberries, and other yummy fruit we don't often see in Senegal! It's fun to have Joey with us now, and we are looking forward to Danny's arrival next week.

Deckers in Annapolis!

We had a great time visiting with our friends, who rented a boat and took us to see Annapolis from the water! Jacob drove us up the Severn river.


















We enjoyed looking around at the US Naval Academy, and seeing amazing bits and pieces of our nation's history.

Deckers in Washington, DC

We arrived safely, early Tuesday morning. Wednesday, Beth took us to the metro station and we rode into Washington DC. We saw so much that amazed us. The beauty of the architecture, the history, and the words of our heritage carved in marble... it was wonderful. More pictures to come in the days ahead... but for now I'm pretty tired!

packing up...

What goes with us for seven months in the States? What gets stored here for when we come back? What gets given away, sold or thrown out?

June 10: amazing creation

One more day of enjoying God's amazing creation here in Dakar!

fun with friends

Jacob has been enjoying some time with Mitch, and their friend Ethan who has been gone from Senegal for about two years, and is back for a visit.