Back to Niger!

Life is running along at a frantic pace this week! We are in the midst of final packing and preparing to return to Niger in three days. In spite of the busyness of the week, we are thoroughly looking forward to getting home to Niger. We have loved our time here, especially seeing and connecting with so many of you! But it's time to get back. What a blessing it is to feel that way about the place God has called us to! Life may not always be easy there, but knowing it's where we are supposed to be gives us contentment despite the heat, dust and even the cockroaches.

If you don't hear from us for awhile, assume we are just too hot to write. =) That or perhaps we don't have internet hooked up yet.

Please pray for us as we make our final preparations, the journey back, and through the whole settling in process. We'll be living in a new house, and we're thrilled about that. But it will mean a lot more work getting settled in, especially for Kevin. One big thing we are looking forward to is continuing relationships we built in our last term. We are headed back armed with materials of several types in a few local languages that we hope to use to share the Gospel with some of our dear friends. Looking at their pictures this week had me in tears, thinking of the fact that they don't yet know the Lord. Pray with us and for us as we jump back into our African life.

Hopefully next time you hear from us, it will be from the other side of the ocean!

See anything different?

Notice any changes in this sweet smile since yesterday?
No lost teeth here, just a precious smile!

One month countdown!

As we begin our final month here in the US, we have been enjoying many special "last times" for now. Visits to places we love, and seeing friends we will miss is a big part of this month. That and shopping, packing, and sorting out all the stuff to get rid of that we will leave behind. It's not quite as intense as moving- but almost!

We had a delightful Easter here in MA. I, in particular, loved the opportunity to be involved with the amazing music that was presented during Easter week here at the Church. Being a part of the praise team, backed by the choir and string section, and celebrating the resurrection in song was a joyful Easter for me! It was also fun seeing how much more the kids understand this year about the meaning of Easter. Each of the three girls have accepted Christ as their Savior, so Easter has real meaning for them!

The kids enjoyed an egg hunt in Grandpa's back yard on Saturday. Silas was delighted with finding eggs, and even more delighted to discover that some of them had CANDY inside! Easter night Kevin's sister Amy and her six kids arrived for the week. The kids love seeing their cousins, and we have been fitting in all the fun possible! Yesterday we went to historic Sturbridge Village. There are buildings and houses to tour, animals in the barnyard to see, and interesting costumed staff to teach things like what a tinsmith does, and how to make soap. They are demonstrating their skills as they tell the kids, so it is very interesting! We saw a Punch and Judy show, and petted a new lamb.
Lots of hugs for Grandpa!
Some of the cousins!

The absolute favorite part for our Little House on the Prairie fans was the play area. They had costumes, and a fully stocked house for the kids to play in.

They did laundry...

Started a "fire..." Cooked supper...



Churned butter...


Swept the floor...
and hauled imaginary water for washing dishes.
All in all it was a great day, enjoyed by each of us.

A Day at the Zoo

Between all of the getting-ready-to-go stuff, we took time for a day at the zoo with some friends. Our kids had a blast with their kids, who line up pretty closely in age to ours.

We were rather entertained by the fact that one of the gorillas is named Kira! A zoo volunteer pointed out which one was Kira. She was a funny one, playing with a blanket and running all over the place. Her mom was sitting right up at the glass, just wishing she could play with all of the kids. The youngest gorilla, Kira's sister, was a ham! She stood by the glass turning flips, standing on her head, and generally showing off for all of the kids.


Here is Kira (the person!)with the friendly mom behind her, and the youngest sister just showing behind her head. In the very back you can see Kira (the gorilla!) playing. Silas was just fascinated with these guys, and couldn't get enough of watching them.

Here is Kira with her buddy.
And Elayna with her sweet friend.

The Smith Clan

Here's the whole Smith clan with one more in the oven --- Aunt Sarah's oven, not Krista's.

Pirates & Princesses

While we were at Fairmont we had a "Pirates and Princesses" party for all the kids on the Smith side of our family. The girls were the fair princesses and the boys were the rough and tough pirates. They started off with a treasure hunt. As they followed their treasure map, they searched for clues and treasure in places like this phone booth. They also had to watch out for the sharks (Uncle Ben, Kevin, and Papa) who were trying to get them.


Their treasure hunt eventually led them to the racquetball court, which turned out to be Pirate Joe's (aka Uncle Jonathan) pirate ship! He had even brought a special treasure chest just for them. Of course, Pirate Joe had stories about his adventures on the seas and a hook in place of one hand.


The kids love Pirate Joe, who has shown up at each of our last two Smith family gatherings. Poor Uncle Jonathan always seems to miss seeing Pirate Joe, though.


At last the treasure was released from the treasure chest....


Young Pirate Silas decided to show off his sword fighting moves.


While on Pirate Joe's ship, the kids got to play some games. First off was a game of Pirate Pirate Princess (you might have played a similar game before called Duck Duck Goose).


They also played Musical Islands (maybe you've played Musical Chairs before).


Of course no party is complete without some cake. Aunt Amanda pleased the masses with her new cake decorating skills. Here's the Pirate ship cake sailing the seas with the faces of each of the Smith family on it. Nice work Aunt Amanda!


There was also an island cake with a treasure chest on it full of treasure.

Fairmont Hot Springs

Our last week in Canada, we headed into the mountains for a week-long get away with all of Krista's family. Our destination was Fairmont Hot Springs in British Columbia.

Along the way, we drove through the beautiful Canadian Rockies.


We stopped in Banff to look for some coveted treats....


One important treat to find was fudge. They have really good fudge in Banff. Silas liked giving high fives to the friendly black bear at the fudge place.


That bear was fake (at least no longer alive), but we did see some real wildlife as we drove. Kira was the only one in our vehicle to spot these elk on the side of the road. She has eagle eyes. Way to go Kira! We came back around to them so the rest of us could enjoy these creatures as well.


The views along the way and while we were in Fairmont were incredible. We enjoyed every minute of it as we don't get to see mountainous scenery like this in Niger.


None of us missed seeing the group of 20-30 mountain goats on the side of the road near Fairmont.


How could we? The group of mountain goats had sent their crossing guard into the middle of the road to make sure we didn't miss them.

We all had a great time just being together and playing together. The kids went sledding and swimming. They also did crafts 3-4 times during the week run by the place we stayed. The adults had fun too. We played lots of games and enjoyed the hot tubs at the pool and the hot springs. There's nothing quite like sitting in a hot tub outside in the middle of a snow storm. We also tried our hand at darts and racquetball. The guys headed off one night to go night skiing after a fresh snow fall of 6 inches of powder. We were all smiles. We even walked away afterwards injury free.