Shortsasneuker is 20!

My dear beautiful talented little sister (Shortsasneuker) is 20 years old today! It seems only yesterday she was begging me to play house and barbies with her. But since sentimental comments such as that make Erika weep uncontrollably, I will refrain from making any others. My older sister, Melissa, had the genius idea of interviewing each other about Sister 3. She asked me questions and I asked her different questions. If you would like to read her questions and my answers, click here.

And without further ado, here's my interview with Melissa:

1. True or False, Erika likes oatmeal.     False

2. What’s Erika’s best physical feature?     She’s very symmetrical; matching freckles on her eyes. And she has the best nose in the family.

3. What’s one thing you hope never changes about Erika?     Her deep and genuine passion to love God, know Him, and make Him known to others.

4. What’s Erika’s favorite expression?     “What’s up?” “Oh my WORD!”

5. If you had to find an animal that best represented Erika to you, what animal would it be?      An army ant because she’s industrious, hardworking, not afraid to go into undaunted new territories, and her nickname is Shorty. Plus, it’s biblical.

6. If you had to put one thing in Erika’s hope chest, what would it be?     What’s a hope chest? (After explanation from interviewer) I’d knit her some lace doilies.

7. True or False, Erika likes the musical Newsies.     She should love Newsies since it’s the best musical ever, but I’m afraid the answer is false.

8. If you had to make Erika into a boyz band, what would you call it?     blak2blanko

9. Would you rather Erika marry Shawn or Gus?     Gus. Why?     Because he is so awesome! He would be the “blak” part of her boyz band.

10. What are some good things about her being the baby of the family?     I can clearly remember when she was born and all her growing up years. I liked when I was in boarding school getting coloring pages from her. She’s a good caboose to the Dorsch train.

11. Do you remember when I was born?     Yeah, but more vaguely. But this is not about you, Lindsay.

12. Does Erika like odd or even numbers?     Even? Do you know the answer to that? (Yep! Odd!)

I hope that gives you a little glimpse into the the character and personality of Shorty. She's wonderful and oh so stylish! I'm so proud of her and who she has become. I'm eager to see how God continues to shape and mold her. He has good and beautiful plans for her. 

Eureka, you are very truly special to me. Know that you are loved. I cherish the memories we've had growing up together and I'm so proud to call you my sister. Thanks for putting up with my over-emotional tendencies. 

Blogger points to anyone who can count all of the nicknames I've mentioned for Short-stop in this post!

Do You Soak Your Food in Clorox?

As Dad and I were mounting the bridge on our way to breakfast yesterday morning, we glanced down and saw this:

Can you tell what's happening in this picture?

Here's a closer look.

Yes, they are washing the carrots they will be selling all day in the Niger River. Why is that such a big deal? Well, if you are at all familiar with the Niger River, you know that it is filled with unspeakables. I'll let your imagination fill you in on the rest. If you have a poor imagination (In Anne Shirley's words, "Oh, how much you miss!), let me give you a few clues: the Niger River is used as a bath, a toilet, a washing machine, and a swimming pool. You follow?

This, my friends, is one of the reasons we soak our fruits and vegetables in Clorox before eating them.

First Day of Spring Break !

Today is the official first day of spring break. Because the school I teach at is also a boarding school, we have 2 weeks and 1 day of spring break! Beautiful.

What have I been doing? Sleeping. Reading. I started my second book by John Green (young adult author) and was not impressed (brilliant writing, but really, is so much sex and language necessary?) so replaced it with a Markus Zusak book, I am the Messenger. (Markus Zusak wrote The Book Thief.) I am the Messenger has very obvious postmodern undertones, but since this blog post is not meant to be a book review, I will save more of my thoughts concerning John Green and Markus Zusak for another time.

I was asked last night to prepare lunch (dinner for you farmers) for my parents since they would be at a staff meeting all morning. I did not take the task given me lightly, but set to work preparing what I hoped would be a delectable feast. On the menu: baked potatoes, which you could top with all or some taco-flavored hamburger (leftover from burritos), cheese, butter, salsa; salad, with an abundance of carrots since we have an over-abundance in the fridge; and onion rings. Yes, I made the onion rings from scratch and they were delightfully tasteful. (We also have an over-abundance of onions) Approve of my menu choice? I was, to be honest, quite proud of myself. The meal was colorful, which I have been taught is important to consider, and it used leftovers from the fridge as well as new ingredients that are overly-plentiful in the kitchen. Only downer...I have oil stains on my shirt because I forgot to wear an apron when I was frying the onion rings. Frustration! I love wearing aprons! How could I forget???

My Public Speaking Debut

Last January, I was asked to speak at the 7-12 grade school Assembly and today was the big day. I shared a significant portion of my story and how God has worked in my life and changed my heart. I was really nervous, but a few minutes and jokes later, I was actually enjoying myself. I spoke for about 25 minutes. My prayer was that while I shared, I would be real with the students; that I would not be someone stoically listing a series of events, but that I would talk about what happened as if it had just happened yesterday. God definitely answered my prayer; I choked up several different times. Someone at school asked what I was going to talk about and this is what I told them: my story, God's goodness, how I was an idol-worshiper, and how God has led me to where I am today. Interested in reading it? I was going to upload an attachment to this blog post so those of you who feel so inclined may do so, but unfortunately, I have yet to figure out how to do so. (I will gladly email it to any of you who ask.)

The parents came to listen and Mom snapped a few pictures. She also took a few videos, but I would rather not post those! :)

Oh, I forgot to mention, afterward was a Q&A time and Melissa, you should know, the first question was about you: "What city in France does your sister live in?"

A big thank-you to all who were praying for me today. God truly answered your prayers.

Caroline Cain, if you read this, I want you to know I gave a special shout-out to you and was very sad you weren't there to hear it.

A Jaunt in the 'Hood!

Mom and I decided to brave the dust and heat and set out for a little jaunt in our 'hood! (Is it considered an elementary writing skill to include the title in the opening line?) I decided to bring my camera along and snap some pictures.

This is our neighbor/night guard's wife and little boy. 

He's 11 months old and extremely small.

He's not eating well or gaining much weight.

Mom was standing beside me trying to get him to smile and this was the closest we got.

If you look closely at the side of the boutique, it says, "Belle Coiffure C'est Ici" which means "Beautiful Hairstyle is is Here". 

George, it looks like I won't have to wait until June for a haircut after all!

 They're putting in sidewalks on either side of the new road they're building! 

Having been raised in countries that never had sidewalks, I often find myself walking in the street and foregoing the sidewalk when I'm back in the US. This is not done purposefully, just one of my many TCK tendencies.

Every brick of the sidewalk is hand-placed. 

The new road construction requires a lot of grueling manual labor under the hot scorching Nigerien sun.

If the Chinese aren't driving the machinery, this guy is...turban and all!

 Is this a common sight in most capital cities?

 Don't these pictures melt your heart?

Don't you want to come join me in the jaunt around the 'hood?! 

I'll even pay for your haircut!

Galmi Outreach Trip

Last Friday I set out with a team of 4 other teachers and 9 students to a small town about 6 1/2 hours East of Niamey. I have not done hardly any traveling outside of Niamey and was looking forward to the trip. The purpose of the trip was to lead a retreat for home-schooled kids in Niger. I was in charge of children between the ages of 4 and 8. Thankfully I had four great student helpers who did most of the work of planning, preparing, and organizing the Bible lessons, crafts, games, etc. 

Ready for some pictures? There are a bunch.

First stop: bathroom; the original outhouse. 

Guys on the left, girls on the right.

Friendly Travel Tip: always always pack toilet paper and hand sanitizer!

Funny Story: coming home my friend and I had to go to the bathroom quite urgently. The driver pulled the van over, only, the landscape looked more like the last picture on this post (scroll all the way down!) rather than the one above. You see the problem? We had no choice. (Well, I suppose technically we did, but we opted for a dry ride home.) Strategically choosing our bushes so that we would not encroach on each other's privacy or scare those waiting in the van behind us, we did our job. Unfortunately, we did not take into account oncoming traffic--the road being so empty and all. Three mobylettes passed us and let's just say, I think what they saw will never be forgotten.

Second stop: gas station. 

No QuickTrip icees or peanutbutter crackers here.

Third stop: Galmi

A few snapshots of the kids working on their craft.

Saturday evening all of the retreat staff, home-schoolers, and their families went picnic-ing. Since we were outside, we had to wear head coverings, and of course skirts and tennis shoes. The ideal hiking outfit, right?

This is Cathy-Jo, another teacher sponsor on the trip. We were roommates! She's great and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know her more throughout the weekend.

It's either rocks or sand or thorn bushes. You pick.

The view. 

One word comes to mind: desolate.

 Sunday morning we drove about 15 minutes outside of Galmi to attend a small village church.

It's a new building.

It's a very small church. 

Our team doubled the congregation.

As is custom, we were asked to sing a song. We sang "Amazing Grace" first in English and then all six verses in Hausa--the language in that area. There were Hausa songbooks available to use and since the language was written phonetically, it was not too difficult to follow along. You just sing quietly, mimicking the sounds your neighbor is making all-the-while hoping your neighbor knows a little more than you do! (A couple of the people on our team spoke Hausa.) The congregation liked it so much that we sang it again at least 2 more times. Yes, all six verses every time. By the sixth verse the third time, I felt like a Hausa master! At least concerning "Amazing Grace!"

 These are some of the musical instruments. 

Some of the local villagers.

Some more sights through the van window.

 Onions, desert, lizards...........

I kept thinking of Holes the whole weekend!

We returned Monday evening. It was a wonderful weekend.