Our week

It's been a busy week! We started out Monday with having a birthday party for Elayna and Trey. His birthday was the 21st, and hers the 25th. Anora had Elmo party stuff- perfect for two 2-year olds. Tuesday Kevin was supposed to fly to Accra. He woke up at 4 am with a stomach bug, and spent the day in bed instead. He had to call Ed at 5am to do the flight. Wednesday things were much improved, so he went out to the airport. Thursday we had Riggs (who just returned from the States last week) over for supper. They have a 5 year old girl, and a two year old boy. The kids had so much fun! They left and Kira told me "Mom, I'm so tired, but that was fun!" Ethan looked really cute in the girls dress-ups. Kris, his dad, was unimpressed when the girls came out introducing "Princess Ethan." Also over for supper was Steve Johnstone. His parents have volunteered at Galmi for the last couple of years, and this year their son, who is in med school, joined them for two weeks. Kevin flew him back to Niamey yesterday, to leave last night. So in the meantime he had supper with us. We enjoyed visiting him, and hearing of his adventures living and going to school in New York city.
Tonight we had the fun of learning to cook an African meal. I can't say Nigerien, because Emilie is from Benin, and she made it with things she says Nigeriens don't always use. Wherever it was from, it was delicious! Cetons and Amanda Winsor came over to learn to cook it, and eat it with us.
With all the recent company- especially company with young kids- the girls have been feeling like it's one big party. They are so tired! Maybe they'll sleep in tomorrow...

A day Niger style

Today was such a typical example of life in Niger! We woke up, and while we were still getting our day started the power went out. I think it was around 8:30 AM. So breakfast was an adventure of opening the fridge as quickly as possible, since there was no way of knowing when it would have power again. Power goes out fairly often, but usually only lasts 15 minutes at the most. Well, by 10:30 AM the house was fairly miserable with no fans, and the kids and I were going crazy! It was playgroup day, so we went to April's house and enjoyed her air conditioning for a couple of hours.
The kids and I returned home at 12:45 to be greeted at the door by Emilie, our house worker. Our power was STILL out. I called Kevin to find out what was the deal. He had been at the office working on the issue. Apparently the Nigerien guy who works at our SIM office hadn't paid our bill! He went to the electric company for three days in a row, and thought the line was too long. So he went home without paying the bill!!! Our line had been cut due to the unpaid bill. They won't turn it back on until the bill is paid. Kevin was working on it, but it was going to take a while. So I went straight to the rec center, without even unloading the kids. It was way too hot for them to nap at home anyway, and there was no way I was cooking lunch in that heat with no fans! So we ordered lunch and swam for the afternoon. Meanwhile Kevin was trying to get a check to pay the bill, and find two people authorized to sign it. (Only one of whom was at the office.) After a day of the runaround for Kevin, and a day keeping up with four nap-skipping-non-swimmers at the pool for me they turned our power back on at around 5:30. I headed home to get the tired kids fed and to bed. Kevin took off with my uncle Claude to see if they could spot hippos from a canoe in the Niger River. Never a dull moment around here!

Finally started!

After discussing the idea of a blog for several months, here we are! There are so many things to say about life here in Niger! This is the easiest way to attempt telling the story to any who want to hear it. There is never a lack of adventure here in our real life frying pan. So let's get started...
Pictures first- they're worth a thousand words anyway, right?