A Brief Senegal Slideshow...

I would never have guessed it, but I took nearly 800 pictures while in Senegal! Even flickr.com wouldn't let me upload them all without paying for a pro account (which I'm still considering). In the meantime, I thought you all might enjoy a slideshow of my favorite memories from the trip. Enjoy!

A Day Like Any Other?

I did this for my boys today.

It's the first "Stars and Stripes" cake I have ever made. But what better way to instill a sense of patriotism in a 2 year old and a 4 year old than with cake?

They are napping right now, but they will see it when they wake up--just in time to join a few friends and family members for a barbecue and to play on the swings in the backyard. What a life they have. Right now, they have no concept of what it means to have won one's independence. It will be years still before they fully understand the tumultuous history of this country and what this day represents.

Although I worry about the world they have to grow up in, I thank God that they are here now rather than 50+ years ago. Perhaps it is my recent return from Africa that inspired the thought this morning, but one of the first phrases that came to mind was "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?", so I thought I would post a link to Frederick Douglass's Independence Day Speech at Rochester, 1852.

Independence...how sweet it is.

Still organizing...

...and writing captions. For those of you who just must see some photos RIGHT NOW (which apparently is everyone I have talked to in the last few days), I will share with you the flickr files of a few of my fellow travellers who went and were kind enough to share (and quick enough to have theirs up already).

The photos here are credited to Emily Williams (who I believe slept with her camera in her hand. Every time I saw her, she was zooming in on something) : Emily's Photos

The photos here are credited to Brian Hill (who thoroughly enjoyed the trip and single-handedly boosted the local economy by buying everything that wasn't nailed down--oh yeah, he made some friends): Brian's Photos


Photos from other trips are on both of their sites. Be sure to click on the Senegal albums.