Little Gifts From Above

I love those moments when God sends special little gifts our way.  It is the little things that are nothing we need, but just a gift to remind us that he cares.  The boys were on a two week break from school and so we took advantage of that time to get work done in Dakar without having to be separated as a family.  It was hardly a break as Joel and I worked most of the time, but it was still a change of scenery and we tried to do some special things for the boys.  However we told the boys going into it that we couldn’t do too much this time as we knew it would all add up quickly.  The week before we left I spent the week cooking so that we could be there without eating out.  We were prepared to just be there and enjoy being there, but then God sent multiple little gifts from above our way.  They are nothing we needed or sought out, but just a little reminder of God’s goodness.

• Before we left Joel’s mom made some cookies for our desserts.  We were talking about how good they would be with ice cream.  Then the first night we were there our guests who we invited over brought ice cream and ended up leaving a whole thing of ice cream that we got to enjoy all week with our cookies.
• We took Tyler to the eye doctor as he is in need of new glasses.  As we were leaving, someone came up to me with strawberries to sell, a rare treat here.  I told them “no” as I knew we couldn’t afford them.  Then he dropped the price to lower than I have ever payed for them here.  What a special treat!
• We spent Saturday at the clothing market, looking for clothes for all of us on furlough.  It is a great place to find cloths, but it is often a matter of searching through huge piles of clothes for things the right size.  In a few hours, with the help of Joel’s mom, we had found everything we were looking for to get us started on our time in the states.  Such a huge blessing!
• In January Joel and I helped in the organization of our conference here in Senegal.  As a thank you we were given the gift of a certificate to a restaurant in Dakar.  It was so nice to have a free date with my husband!
• We ended up being there during the week that a huge kids carnival was taking place.  The boys had an amazing time.

The week was no vacation, but we got so much accomplished and God sent us so many blessings that made the week special.  It is the last time we will be in Dakar for more than a day before our trip back to the States.  We were able to get more done than we planned.  There is still a lot we have to get in place before leaving, but we made a good dent in the projects.  Mostly, however, I was just touched by God’s goodness to us in the little things he sent our way.  We serve an amazing God!