My Lovely Dirty Toes

I was cleaning my feet yesterday with a smile on my face b/c i was just sooo excited they were covered in the African dirt... *sigh*

Our flights were awesome... There was really nothing to complain about beside the ususal.. small seats and sketch food. Kimberly and Mallory met us at about 7ish and picked us up. We went to the guest house where we ate breakfast, met the rest of the team, packed up the groceries that they purchased the day before.

We started driving home and stopped at Dakar Academy to drop off some clothes for gloria. Then we headed to Mbor for fruit, and Mallory got a new facet. It was so awesome to see nathan and ashley and josh's face as they were experncing things for the first time. It's like things that have been in my heart that ive just been waiting to see.

We got home, ate thiebougen, and did everything possible to stay awake. We planned the schedule (tentively,of course) and then assesed the bench making process. Finally, travis got the local pharmacist to come and sort out medical supplies and what would be beneficial in certain places.

Today was AWESOME!!! We got up (learned of the earthquake, and got really sad) ate breakfast, and then got ready for a great day! Margaret and Mary came over to plan english club for tomorrow which is understanding everyone needs to be rescued. Then after we were done, we headed out to help the boys work on benches. They are going to be building a stage and benches.

We ate lunch, worked a little more and then headed over to the hospital. We got a mini tour of the facilities and then we went to meet the leaders and hand out the mattresses and medical supplies. It was really awesome. They were so appreciative and met many different people from many departments. Pastor Cole then took us to meet with a man that was recording parts for the radio station. We took the lady in charge of maternity and the administrative assistant and they talked about what had happened. Then I chatted for a sec about what we brought and why we were here. It was pretty awesome.

Then we came home and starting making the Friday nite pizzas Nathan and Josh headed off to play soccer with Nathaniel and the other boys out in a field behind the house and we all cooked to get ready for movie night. We ate pizza chatted for a long time, the boys came home and ate, and then we watched the Kings Speech. I then fell asleep and became a party pooper and headed to bed early.

Here is what our schedule looks like for the rest of the week:

Saturday: English Club this afternoon

We start fasting at 7pm for the work the team is doing

Sunday: Church in the Morning

Meeting with Victor and Pastor Cole about plans for Monday and Tuesday in the villiages

Monday: In the PM head to the village to set up and watch Jesus film and Chat with the people. This is the night that we are staying the night

Tuesday: Go hut 2 hut talking to people about why we are there.

Wednesday: Our first distribution of OCC boxes to Mr Lo's school

Thursday: Second OCC box distribution

Friday: Heading to Dakar

Saturday: Goree Island

Sunday: Flying home.

Bill, we talked to Halifa (sp is way off) and he was happy to hear of your greeting. They kids really miss everyone. Ethan loved the picture he got of him and tricia. They miss Liz and everytime they see a picture they say, Oh, I miss Miss Liz."

It feels crazy wonderful to be here! I'll write more from the heart later i just wanted to get out there what we are doing every day.

Love you mom. Love you Dad. Love you Brittany.

I know, I know... it sounds all ooshy gooshy... but it's so true. The last thing Cathy told me at work before I want home Christmas Eve afternoon was, "Cherish this Christmas! You will miss it and the two of you will have so much fun."

So I did my best.. and even if it wasnt my best, I was GREAT!

When I got home, Nathan was out plowing the absolutely gorgeous 6 in of snow we got that day, getting all the church parking lots ready for their Christmas Eve services. I got to church early for HOPE practice and slowly others filled in. Nathan had to sing in the choir (which is so sweet) so i oogled at him while we sang the first little bit. After the choir was done with "What a tiny Little Baby?," he came down and sat by me. Now for each, his own, i understand, but I know i feel the holy spirit when i get all chocked up randomly...and at that moment when he settled in, I had that chocked up moment where I realized I was surrounded by people I love. The Bakers with little Andrew 4 year old with his bow tie on, the McGarrahs right behind us, Steve with his arm around Pam in front of us...it was just a Christmas moment where God just proved his blessings... Then Dad read Joel's message (b/c joel was really sick). I'm sorry to say that i dont remember all of it :), but there was one point where Dad had something in his throat and I thought he was crying. As a daughter of a man who rarely cries, tears started coming. Then he cleared his throat and I wiped my eyes pathetically.

We had soup at the Yates Christmas eve with family and after, Nathan and Josh needed to plow one more church that had an 11pm service. So I GOT TO EXPERIENCE MY FIRST PLOW! It was terribly frightening bc they fly, the memory was fun.

As we were driving from one job to another over on the south side, I said something totally profound...don't know where it came from, but i said, "Even the worst of Peoria look better under a blanket of snow." Then of course I got all weepy again and remembered how grateful I was for Nathan and our family and Jesus.

And then the last weepy part... after Christmas Brunch with Mom and Dad Christmas Morning, I made Nathan take me up to fondulac drive to the view point where you can see all of peoria. It was snowy and clear and just beautiful. All I could think about was...Home. And there it was right in front of me.

We got wonderful gifts and ate wonderful food, but the best part of the whole weekend, was taking in the memory of my first christmas with my husband.

God is also beginning to reveal out Africa adventure. I have a new graph! It's EXTREMELY promising and encouraging.

I MUST sleep, but i wanted to get those memories down. I know most will find them bored and possibly feel ill by the end, but i selfishly need the memory...so just hit the "X." :)

New Cupcake, Senegal or Bust, and Jacob's Letters...

I made a new cupcake...

Lemon Lavender Cupcake with Vanilla Bean Butter Cream Frosting...

Also,
We have a new number for Senegal funds. God's got us! We are moving in the right direction!
We also heard from Jake Wineinger this week. Pam typed out his letters so I'm going to post them here.

1st letter:
So I'm writing this in a hurry because I'm standing fire watch at 3:00 in the morning. Everything is going fine. It is definitely different. Everything is so fast paced. They count down for everything. I have to shower, shave and brush my teeth in 400 seconds that are counted fast. The food sucks, but I am so hungry it doesn't matter. Remember how I said I needed to lose weight? Well, that was the truth. They put me on a diet. So I get half of the crappy food, and I am always hungry. I have already lost 8 pounds in the last week. We are doing PT and martial arts already. Then we go to class and study a bunch of crap. The nice thing is the days go fast, and when we aren't in class or PT or martial arts, we drill. Which is simply marching. There is so much information to take in. That's all I have for now.
Love you, Jake

2nd letter:
So its Monday. Today was a mix of good and bad. Good because we did the confidence course, which was fun. And bad because I got in trouble at chow. I was talking in line and someone said something funny, so I smiled. Big mistake. I could have lived with one of the DI's seeing it, but the Chief drill instructor saw me, and took me to my senior drill instructor who was pissed. So a good day turned south fast. But it's a lesson learned.

I don't know if I've told you about the glasses yet. I can't wear contacts so they issued me these stupid glasses. And you know how much I wore my contacts. Well I wear these glasses less, only in class or when I'm reading a letter or the bible or something small.

There is a laundry mat at the end of our barracks that all of Lima Company uses. Well at night you can leave your laundry on your footlocker and firewatch does it. Well, me being trusting person, did that, and all my laundry was lost. And I told the guide who told the DI's and they said tough crap. So I have to buy more clothes. They have this cool little store where you can buy everything you are issued. And you pay with this debit card that draws out of the account you get paid into. The worst part about the clothing is this tighty whiteys. So uncomfortable!

Well that's all I have time for now. Thanks for the prayer.
-Jake
P.S. I weigh 180, that's 12 pounds down.

3rd letter:
So it's Sunday! This is the day I look forward to everyday of the week. Church here is amazing. We sing and they have guest speakers. This week we did communion. Its great. It is a recharge for the week. There is a lot of guys I go with from my platoon. It's amazing how I can feel Jesus help me everyday. Especially Sundays. I get chills sometimes. The days are going by fast. Everyday starts at 0500 and gets going 100 mph until lights out at 2100. I'm receiving lots of mail from everyone which is great. I look forward to mail call every night. Today is a field day which basically means we clean the squad bay all day, then go drill. But a bunch of the guys got our stuff done early and we were just sitting around so I read that devotional for everyone. It was cool. I've lost 12 pounds and I'm still on this stupid diet. I mean I guess it's working, but I'm hungry all the time. All I can think of is food!

You were asking about the graduation date. It is January 14 as long as everything goes all right, no injuries, and I don't fail any tests or anything like that. So you can start looking into those tickets if you want. If you do come up the day before, that is visitor's Thursday. I can't leave base, but I get two hours of family time. That Thursday morning we do a moto run which is the first time I can see you. I can't spend time until little bit later in the day. But I will have more details about that later. Then after the 2 hours of time together, we have to get on a bus and go to some stupid basketball game where they show us off. And I don't think you can come. So the next time I can see you is the next day after graduation and that's when we get to leave, I think its around 11:30.

I can tell you right now the first thing we are going to do is get some fast food. I'm craving food! I want moose tracks ice cream and all you can eat chinese food. But that's just the diet making me hungry. I ordered my pictures already and a DVD thing. Which is interesting. They are having us do this stuff so early in training.

We have two more weeks left here at MCRD, then first phase is over. These two weeks are going to be fun, but challenging. The first week is the confidence course and some log stuff. And the second week, which is probably more important because you have to qualify, then they give you a ranking of how good you are. But because of my MOS of Recon, I need to do very well. So pray for warm weather, strength, stamina, breath, and that I excel far above everyone.

Then after these next two weeks we go to Camp Pendleton which is 3 hours north of San Diego. That is where 2nd phase starts. We get to shoot our rifles. We do team building and scenarios. We are up there for 4 weeks, which is different. Everyone else is only there for 3 weeks, but because we are the last platoon in our company, we have to stay an extra week. Let's hope it is for something good.

We didn't do anything for Halloween. I didn't realize it was here til it was gone. The next holiday is the Marine Corps birthday on November 10. So that day we will probably do something special.

There is this thing here that they call the recruit crud. Scotty (Wilcoxen) talked about it. And its true. Since you have so many people from all over together in one place. Everyone is sick, including me. But that just adds to the fun I guess.

Oh, you asked about how long leave is. It is 7-10 days. But its going to be longer because of the waiting list to get into SOI, which is School of Infantry, the next step of training for me. So my leave is going to be like 18 days maybe. But I have to do what is called recruiters assistance, which is to help Sgt Edwards with his recruiting (in Peoria). I don't know how that works yet. I wrote him a letter, so I'll know more later. But I know I got at least 7-10 days.

Ash asked wht to send me. Right now just letters. You can send food, but like I said, I have to eat it all fast, then get in trouble for it. So unless I write asking for food, please don't send anything but letters.

I got letters from Grandma and Pop and Nan and Gramps. Please tell them the graduation date. I know they said they might want to come. And if you would once a week, send one of those devotionals so if we get the chance to do that every week, I can share that.

I'm running out of stuff to tell you. So here are some questions. Has it snowed? Have you seen any geese around the house? How's everyone doing? Has anything big happened in the news? How are the cows? Did you get your truck ready to plow yet? Did Josh get that Mustang?

Well that's all for now. Thanks for prayer and support. It makes what I'm doing worth it that much more.

Love, Jake