Jumping Up to High School - The Visible Effects of this Transient Life

 

It was January 2012, I took a picture of my then second graders jumping off the sidewalk.  Then just because it was such a fun picture, I immortalized them in black and white as my blog header. 

In 2015 those second graders graduated from fifth grade and moved up to Middle School.  So just for fun I took another picture, same location, same order.  It was amazing that in such a transient community the core group of this class was pretty much the same.  Three years later and the picture looks much different.

In May of 2018 my friend Anne organized the graduating Eighth Graders for a jump shot in the exact same order.  You can see the group was significantly reduced in number.  Of the group of 9 moving on to middle school, only five remained for the shot.  Four of the students had returned to their home countries - two permanently and two for home assignment with their families.  So in reality out of that core class of 10 that I taught in Second Grade 7 students remain which I would say is still pretty incredible!  Not to mention that they have actually been joined by quite a few more students. 

And here they all are!  The Eighth Grade has adopted a Nigerien cultural practice of dressing up in a uniform to celebrate their graduation.  Nigeriens often do this for special occasions such as wedding celebrations or simply to show their identity as belonging to a certain group. 

One thing that hasn't changed - they are still a great bunch of kids!

A "Welcome Home" Tradition

It seems there is a little "Welcome Home" tradition developing when I return from home assignment.  Upon my return from my last home assignment, I woke up one morning to a flat tire - a little "happy to see you again" gift from my car.  This time I gave myself the gift in a much more dramatic style by running over a six inch pipe sticking out of the ground - a nice pop and "psssssszzzz" as the air fizzled out and all of this in front of a truckload of soldiers.  Oh me, oh my!

The wonderful thing about Niger is that help is just around the corner.  The security guard called the guy on the corner who fixes tires to come and he changed the tire after borrowing a workable jack from one of my friends.  So help came quickly.  Not only that, I now know that I need a new jack and four new tires. So I'm thankful for the wisdom God provides even out of my dumbest moves!

There is a Mother

There is a mother I know.  She has three children who play nearby on most days.  She sits listening to the happy voices of her children and the varying beats of feet moving by her.  As I pass her, I often think of how I wish I had the words in her language to tell her how beautiful her children are - how they are growing taller and stronger each day.  I want to tell her these things because she cannot see them with her own eyes.  She is blind.

Today as I passed her, she sat alone, her children nowhere to be found.  I wondered again at how difficult it must be for a Mom not to be able to look up and see her children and know that all was well with them.  How, for example, could she come to their aid if just one of those passing by intended them harm?  These thoughts often turn to prayers that God himself would watch over them for her.

My feet walk on.

Suddenly, I hear the frightened cry of a child and the pounding of little feet on pavement.  Her toddler is running furiously and crying out for her.  He has wandered inexplicably far from her and yet, surrounded by a sea of grown up legs, he runs toward his mother's place, absolutely sure that she will be there.

I stop and watch, concerned that he may not know the way, unsure of whether I should help him.  In the sea, one hand reaches down momentarily stopping him but it is not the hand he seeks.  He pushes it aside and continues on as do I, confident that he knows exactly where he is going.

My feet follow the path once more around the stade and there, at the other end, my eyes seek out his mother's place.  She is there.  Resting safely in her arms is her little one.  He is comforted by her whispered assurances and her gentle hand tapping his bottom.  There is a mother.

Dedicated to my Mom and Dad, who, just like this mother, 

have always been a place of refuge and assurance.

 

 



April Fools in My Fridge

Thanks to one of my former students, I received a highly amusing gift on my birthday.  She made her way into my house and filled my refrigerator with a bunch of silly characters.  

A sign of things to come!

Ha. I love the bushy mustache and tie man. For my Sahel Peeps...makes me feel like Paul David Tripp is in my fridge and that's just funny! :)

The eggs are just too funny!

I realized today that the guy behind the mustard bottle is supposed to have bushy eyebrows...love it!

I surely do love to laugh and this is certainly the gift that keeps on giving in that department.  Thanks for giving me the gift of laughter, HR!  This might just be the best birthday gift I've ever received.

Second Floor Sleeper

I was sitting outside my apartment in the SIM library connected to a cable hoping to get a little bit faster connection.  I happened to glance out the window and see this guy snoozing on the grill work.

He's probably tired after climbing so high!  Sleep well little guy!

Glorious Green - My Last Crafty Project of the Summer

Way back in February, I ran into this fabric. 

It was the perfect thing to tie together the blues and the greens in my living room and dining room.  I thought there was only going to be enough for curtains or dining room cushions but I happened to find more which meant there was plenty to go around.  So I made the curtains.

But I let someone else do the hard work of making cushions.

One last look into that lovely green kitchen...

where my handy with a drill friend Deb helped me attach all the new door handles.

(I needed help because my first encounter with the drill included the loss of a chunk of skin off the bottom of my toe and the drill wasn't even moving!)

And finally a look into my living room which means my last summer crafting project is complete.

Maybe one day there will be more on the walls but I wouldn't get your hopes up!

Busting Out the Color

You may remember when My Apartment Fell in A Bucket of Fresh Cut Grass.  Well my living room/dining room/kitchen wasn't the only room in which I decided to bust out the color.  I also chose some pretty bold colors for my spare room.

This is the necessary before picture...messy and lived in! Important to note that right there where my chair was sitting a hole was being worn in the cement floor.

I chose the color for the wall based on this fun fabric I found  and my friendly neighbourhood painter mixed up the paint and painted that wall right up.  He also painted my shelf pink and of course, green couldn't be left out.  So he painted a little cupboard green for me.  You'll see that little guy in a later picture.

Now most people would do things in a logical order but me, I like to be different so I decided to address the little problem of the hole in the cement floor a few months later after everything was nicely painted.  Brilliant, I know!

They literally came in and chipped up my floor carrying it out in buckets but still leaving plenty of floor behind in the form of a thick layer of dust.

But it was worth it because I got this beautiful tile floor.

When I put everything back I decided to rearrange the furniture which made this whole room seem so much bigger.  Great decision!

I found the fun green sheets and bought them because they were perfect for the room and because I needed more green in my life (yes, I have a problem!).  One of my crafting projects for the summer was to make the grey cover for the bed.  Someone I love dearly told me I should trim my grey material with pink bias tape.  "More color," I said to myself, "of course!"  Ignorance is bliss. But I know now that making bias tape is hard work especially the part where you iron it all.  However, I will say this.  There is a certain very satisfying feeling you get when you see it all rolled up neatly lying on your table.

Anyway, my summer project is complete.  The bias tape has been sewn on and the bed cover completed.

I'm quite happy with my colourful little spare room...except for that little problem of the curtain rod that's falling out of the wall.  Yep, should have taken care of that before the room got painted too!

The Not-So-Hostile Takeover

I think I might be addicted.

I had green throw cushions and green in my kitchen and bathroom curtains, a green mat and a green towel or two to go with my green potholders.  Then I bought a green clock and well, it's been downhill from there.  I painted a huge green wall and covered my kitchen cabinets in the stuff too.  Moved on into my office and painted a little cupboard green after buying material with green in it, followed by green sheets.

And then today happened.  Green twisted my arm into buying this to make some new dining room cushions.
And now that I have it at home I'm wondering could it be that there is just enough to make green curtains?

Somebody stop the madness.  I'm involved in a not-so-hostile takeover!

This Week

In the month of January this little old blog was left out in the cold with not a post in sight. So neglected was it that I didn't even realize that it was having issues with posting pictures!  After a day or so of figuring that out, I'm ready to at least make sure that February has two posts in it even if they do come one after the other.  So here you go - a little peek into my week!

This week I enjoyed "Office Day".  

But you already know that so you should also know that this week we actually woke up to thunder, lightning and overcast skies.  It rained (or spit) on us twice in one day!  That pretty much never happens in February.

This week my last major home improvement for awhile (I hope!) was completed.  More on this later.  (Hey I might even hit 3 posts in February!)

This week the Titanic set sail from Sahel Academy.  Thankfully, this time the only part of it that sunk was the fabulous cake pictured in the bottom right hand corner. All our students enjoyed a night of fine dining and dancing.

Which brings me to the last item on this list...this week Sahel got hit my another flash mob.  Love these things!

And because I never posted the other one - here's the first flash mob of this year which occurred way back during Spirit Week.

For Old Time's Sake

Do you remember when cheese came in a can?  During my earliest years growing up in Nigeria, if we had cheese it had either crossed the ocean with us on our return from furlough or it came from a can just like this one. (At least that's the way I remember things...I wasn't exactly doing the shopping!)

 

We have no lack of yummy cheeses here in Niamey but I was in a little store on Saturday that happened to have cheese in a can so I decided to buy some just for old time's sake.  You know how the nostalgia of things from your childhood can get to you sometimes!

 

 

 

It was just as I remember it and the only thing that would have made it better is if I had been pulled over somewhere alongside a road eating cheese sandwiches under the shade of an African tree with my family.  Mom, Dad, Kent, I can send you a can....on second thought, perhaps you should just go out and buy yourself some Kraft cheese slices.  It's about the same thing!

Does It Have to Be?

(British Columbia)

 

Does it have to be covered in snow to be majestic?

 

(Niger)

 

(The Bahamas) 

 

Does it have to be wet to make you want to dive in?

(Niger)

 

(South Carolina)

Does it have to be full of leaves and color to capture your attention? 

(Niger)

 

(Wyoming)

Does it have to go down in a blaze to take your breath away?



 (Niger)

 

Does it have to be vibrant and full of life?

Or is there a singular beauty in the starkness of this land? 

 

 

Pillows, Pillows, Pillows Everywhere

You saw a picture of these fabulous pillows that it only took me three years to make yesterday.

I bought the green striped material before leaving the U.S. to come to Niger because I have a thing for that color green and it was on sale.

Then just before leaving I stopped in at the fabric store in Canada and  I bought the green and blue flowered material which is peeking out from the box pleated pillow.

So I have had them for a long time but I haven't been inspired to create anything with them for one reason or another until this spring break.

Inspiration hit when I discovered I had a third coordinating material but we'll get to that in a minute.

The two green pillows are a very simple design with a hidden zipper.  I used this tutorial to help me with the zipper.  It's simple and easy to follow.

We have a store here in Niamey that sells second hand clothes that come from thrift stores in the U.S.  I picked this shirt up awhile ago thinking it would be fun to make rosettes out of it.  But while looking through my material I realized that it coordinated perfectly with my other fabrics and that I could easily turn it into a pillow with a button closure.  So I went for it.  It didn't happen as easily as I imagined because the darts in the shirt made it difficult to get it straight but I finally got it close enough to be satisfied.  If felt like it needed something else so I added the rosettes which I love!

After surfing the web for pillow tutorials trying to find something I liked for my third and final fabric, I finally decided on this box pleat pillow tutorial.  If you are looking for a pillow tutorial I would highly recommend starting at this site because this tutorial is easy to follow and has a good balance of visuals with written instructions.  Not to mention that the site had scads of other pillow tutorials.  Anyway, I visited a local fabric store and picked up the chocolate brown linen and I have to say that I think this is my favorite one of the bunch.  So cute!  Here's a close up of the box pleat on the side.

So there you go...what I lack in cute pictures on the wall, I've made up for in cute pillows on the couches. 

Plus, if teaching ever falls through for me I might have a future as a pillow maker - as long as someone out there has a good tutorial for me.