Tad's Life

We just got a couple of notes from Allison, with photos attached to the second. As you parents out there know (including my own), letters from the kids are a precious commodity! So, we're thankful and also pleased to be able to share a few images of our precious family.

This last weekend, Allison's boyfriend Matt was out from Toledo and the two of them and Christine and her friend Dave were with the girls, Abbie and Gabbie.

Hope you like the pictures!

Allison has finished her sophomore year now and has headed out to Ohio to look for summer work. She's living at Christine's and hopes to find something in walking distance, or perhaps bicycling distance! She doesn't have a driver's license or a car, so it's a necessity. Oh, the trials of the MK.







We also took some photos of Dakar Academy's new building for you to see. There is a new three-story building going up. Two stories have made their appearance so far. It is quite a disruption for the school, but we're trying to get it done to have available for classes in August.

The first photo here on the left is from the parents' parking lot looking toward the playground and lunch shelter and all. The new building is behind the B building. The elementary building is out of this shot to the right. You can see that there will be a walkway around the side of B on the second floor.

This next shot is from the upstairs walkway of the high school building looking back across the basketball / volleyball court. It's not a great shot of the building, but I got Jane to stand still for a picture!

The next one shows the new building looking back across the basketball court from the dormitory side of things. You can see the half of the lunch shelter that is still intact and the tin fence that is keeping the kids off the work site.

Progress. More room for classes, which was a real problem this year.

Now if the student population would just stay steady. For some reason lot of missionaries are headed on furlough this year. Our administration is sweating at the moment as they are projecting a drop of over %10, but praying for more than the typical number of unexpected enrollments.

Of course, this is the year when recruiting has finally caught up with the increases in kids. We actually have enough English teachers so Jane will soon be free! And last I heard we were only looking for a math teacher and a part-time counselor. Oh, and one more set of dorm parents. But if we really do have a drop in students, that will mean tight finances will return.

How do you like my new "look"? I picked up some sunglasses from one of the Wheaton guys back in March. I don't know why, but the bright sun was getting to me a few weeks back and I decided to try the shades for a day. It felt so good that I've been using them since!

I'm sorry that I haven't posted anything for so long. It was an intense month... Teams, DA Board meetings, gutting apartments at the Phare, looking for apartments for us... Life.

Ah, well. This regular blogging is a challenge, as I see from all the once-every-few-months bloggers out there in the family! So I'll leave my guilt aside and try again.

We still plan to move to the apartment in COMICO over in Ouakam. The lease I signed a couple weeks back says that we'd take possession on the 15th of May, but I got a call a couple days back saying it wasn't quite painted. How about Friday? That's OK. I was in unexpected Board meetings Monday and Tuesday and am still catching up from the scheduled ones last week, so I wasn't going to do anything about it this week anyway. How we'll manage to actually move our stuff, I have no idea. We're kind of in a one-day-at-a-time mode at the moment. But there is no pressure to leave where we are and no pressure to get where we're going, so that will probably work.

Today is our 27th wedding anniversary. 27 years. I really am blessed. If you're reading this, you know Jane, so I don't have to explain. God gave me a jewel, an amazing person to share my life with. We've had our ups and downs. We've had conflicts and tears and communication problems and losses and pain and all that stuff. Marriage is a tough school for the soul. But I frequently am struck by the thought of, "Wow. And she is my partner!" There is no one I respect more. There is no one whose opinions and insight I trust more. There is no one who makes me laugh more or who challenges my thinking more. I am rich in life beyond all the men I know.

Thank you, Lord.