Tad's Life

Some phone numbers you really shouldn't know. You should have to look them up.

Like the number for the ambulance. Or the police. Or the auto mechanic. If you have them memorized, life has just been a little too interesting lately.

643-2901. That's Ousmane's telephone number. He's our auto mechanic. Argh!!!!!

Isn't that a nice looking SUV there in the photo? Doesn't she look like a cute little vehicle?

Don't you believe it! That old car is the vehicular equivalent of a sink hole. Dollars keep going into her, but she never fills up. Clutch hydraulics. Oil pumps. Flat tires. Electric windows. Batteries. You name it. We've replaced it. Probably more than once. I won't even mention things that are broken that we've given up on ever trying to fix!

Then recently black smoke started pouring out of the exhaust pipe. "The engine needs rebuilt," Ousmane said. New rings and all that good stuff. I explained my lack of money and the fact that it only had to last another 8 months. We're going on furlough. I'm going to sell this machine.

Foolish man that I am. It just got so bad that oil was dripping out the tail pipe. So, into the shop she went.

OK. I know that I'm whining again. I really shouldn't. It's not like I'm really suffering, but you can understand the level of frustration and financial tension.

Then one night two weeks back I went to the airport to pick up Jose and France-lise. That went just fine until I reached Ouakam on my way home. It was rather late and the street was unusually empty. I spotted a fellow running barefoot down the street toward me in the other lane. I'm a good driver. I slowed down a bit and then came to a complete stop when he came right toward me. But he didn't stop. He ran right up and with perfect Major League form threw a fist-size rock at my wind shield. Whack!

Really.

I tried to duck, of course. And when I looked up, I could see the man standing off on the side of the street to my left looking vaguely confused.

Sure, I was scared. And a bit ticked. I'm afraid I said, "You're nuts!" (in French, that is) and drove off rather quickly.

No, I didn't seek to have a conversation with the man. I was immediately sure he was not mentally stable and clearly violent. I was alone as far as I knew.

And do you know the first thought that came to mind? "Ah well. No big deal. The wind shield was already broken." Believe it or not, someone else had thrown a stone earlier that day, right across the street Jane was driving on and it had made a small crack! Kids hunting a lizard? Some other crazy guy on the street? Who knows, but for me that night for some stupid reason that was a comfort!

For a couple days really. Until Ousmane at 643-2901 gave me an estimate for a new wind shield!

But then my driver's license was stolen. To get a new one I needed to get my eyes examined by a real ophthalmologist. Which got me thinking about the legal issues and all...

But I am cheap.

Really cheap.

The idea of spending $200 on glasses just hurts my soul. That's why I had been going without. My Hampton ancestors came from Scotland and I proudly claim the frugality of my genes. So, what could I do?

But then I heard from my niece about a discount eyeware chain and, inspired, I went looking on line. "Two pairs for $70" one said. I was hooked. And so, you see me know with a pair of $40 glasses, shipping and all. Combine that with a $40 exam and I'm a very happy scrooge!

The second amazing thing was the morning before Rodney handed me these glasses, Vivat came with the mail and there was my new Ohio driver's license. It even had a photo from their data base in Columbus. What a marvel. What an answer to prayer

Now, you may think I'm being a bit over dramatic, but I had given up all hope of ever seeing this document. I applied in late June and have been driving ever since under the flimsy legality of my copy of that application. In Ohio I'm sure that would stand up, but here? The Lord protected me from run-ins with policemen checking papers all that time, but I must say that I had moments of fear. Just Sunday we dropped Jonathan off at a birthday party downtown. As we continued on Jane asked me to drive through a particularly public area. I had just explained my desire to "slip out of town" when a policeman stepped out into the road and pulled me over. "Title and driver's license, please," he said. We greeted in Wolof and I handed him the title. He tested our language a bit with glee and asked, "Peace Corps?" "Evangelical missionary, " I explained. "Oh, well then. Never mind, " he smiled and sent us on. Oh my word, my heart was racing. We said thank you to God and laughed a bunch at our own foolishness.

But I had been in contact with the office in Columbus. Missy Tenant there had been very, very helpful at the beginning, when it was stolen. She sent me an application and answered all my questions. But when two months had gone by, I wrote back asking if there were some delay. She assured me that the license had been issued and mailed on July 5th! I am in awe of that efficiency. But now what was I to do. Was the license stolen again? Was it on its way back from Suriname or Dhaka, Bangladesh or somewhere else? Was it on a slow boat, doing the surface mail trek? She encouraged me to be patient and I tried. But on my list on Tuesday was to contact Missy. And there it was in my hand. The envelope post marked July 5th. Written in hand was "air mail." Where had it been? I certainly don't know.

A third amazing thing happened this week. My 12 year-old boy decided that he really needed help seeing, too, and he pushed and pulled until he got reluctant, miserly Dad to take him for an exam and then to buy glasses. He's been really noticing problems in class seeing the board and all. So here he is with his lime green frames (and a haircut).

Stylish, isn't he!?

Father and son in glasses. And mother, of course. Oh, and sisters. And grandparents. And cousins... Genetics is amazing.

I'll add some photos tomorrow, Lord willing. Power was off at the Phare until 5 minutes after I gave up and went home for lunch. Of course, while Jane and I were in the car driving across Ouakam, the power went out at our house. So I dripped in sweat all morning finding non-computer stuff to do without a fan and then went home hoping for a fan to sit in front of while we ate and ...

Whine, whine.

I went back over later and did add a post to the Phare blog with several photos of our new teammates and kids.

Also, I've added Rick Slager's website here as a link. Look on the right side of the screen. -->

Rick and his family are enthusiastic supporters of the work here and have a real heart for MIS and the work in the villages. They have led numerous teams from their church and spent much time with people in several villages in the Diourbel area, camping overnight and all that. He has a business in Wisconsin, but is officially part of our UWM team raising interest in what we're doing here and in the rest of Africa.

He has lots of interesting stuff from the web on his site about Senegal. Try it out.