Monthly Archive for June, 2009

Happy Birthday, Sam!

Published on June 22, 2009 in Uncategorized. 3 Comments

sams-cake

It’s taken me far too long to post a blog entry about celebrating Sam’s 13th birthday, but here it is at last!  Unfortunately, Sam’s birthday (June 12) falls at a time of year that is always, always busy.  He often “shares” his birthday with other events in our family – end of the school year, graduations, house sales, moving to other countries, etc.   This year was particularly challenging.  The last day of classes at Dakar Academy was June 2, and right after that many families were leaving for home assignments or just to go home for the summer.  We had to back up his party into May in order to assure that all his friends would still be around.

But although we had to celebrate early, I think Sam really enjoyed his party.   He had a great time with 6 of his friends from school.  They played on the trampoline and the Wii, we ate hamburgers and hotdogs, and they watched “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” projected on the wall.  (Special thanks to our friends at Wintonbury Baptist Church for sending the iTunes gift cards that we purchased the movie with – and also for the yummy butterscotch chips I used in the cake! )  We set up the tent in the backyard, and the boys said they slept pretty comfortably out there.

Sam (in green) with his friends

Sam (in green) with his friends

I got a kick out of the gifts the boys brought.  There really isn’t any place here where you can get games or books or toys (unless you are willing to pay 3 or 4 times what they are worth), so birthday gifts from friends here tend to be very simple.  Typical gifts are a bottle of Coke, or a candy bar from the local market.  Sam isn’t really fond of soda, but he loves “Tampico,” a local orange drink that is something like Koolaid, only fruitier.  When it was time for him to open his gifts, he received one “real” gift – some modeling clay and Blo-pens – the rest were beverages.   One boy had recently been to Mali, where Mountain Dew is available to purchase, so he gave Sam one can of Mountain Dew.  (Sam gave it to Bill yesterday for Father’s Day – Bill loves Mountain Dew!)  I think there was one bottle of Coke;  all the rest was Tampico!  Sam couldn’t have been happier… for the next week or so everytime I saw him he was drinking Tampico.  He says the kids call him “Sampico.”  :-)

It's Tampico! And another Tampico... and another Tampico...

It's Tampico! And another Tampico... and another Tampico...

Tampico stash

Tampico stash

So, now we are the proud parents of two teenagers!  As I said to my Dad when he called to wish Sam a Happy Birthday, so far, so good!  Sam has done well since we moved to Africa, and we are enjoying watching him grow and mature.  Happy Birthday Sam, hope the next year is a great one for you!  :-)

The Eagle Has Landed!

Published on June 13, 2009 in Uncategorized. 1 Comment
will-leaving-from-dakar

Saying goodbye at the airport - group hug!

When we told our oldest son, Will, back in April, that he could go back to the US for the summer, it seemed like a long way off.  But before we knew it, school was over, and it was time to take him to the airport.  We had hoped we could find a family that would be on the same plane as he was, since it was the first time he was traveling on a plane alone.  But although there is a mass exodus of teachers and missionary families that heads back to the US for the summer or for a longer furlough as soon as school lets out, we weren’t able to find anyone traveling on the same day, on the same airline.  So we were surprised and pleased to see a family we knew arriving at the airport the same time we did on Tuesday night.  Apparently their first flight was cancelled, and they were put on Will’s flight instead.  Their son is just a year younger than Will, so I’m sure that made the wait in the airport a little less boring, and we were just really glad to know there were adults that Will knew on his flight with him.

Both of Will’s flights – from Dakar to Paris and from Paris to Boston – went smoothly.  He emailed us from a kiosk in Paris, so we knew he had made it that far safely.  His second flight was scheduled to arrive in Boston just after 3 PM.  We had the flight status page up and were refreshing the page frequently right around the time he was supposed to land.  At one point I checked my email and there was a message from my sister Janice (who was picking Will up at Logan) reporting “The Eagle Has Landed!”  She was on her way into the airport and actually saw Will’s plane land.  Seconds later the flight status page also reported that the plane had landed.  It was really amazing to me, that all the way over here in Senegal, I could know – not only from reading online, but through an eyewitness report – that Will’s plane had landed, within 60 seconds of it touching down!  :-)

Janice called me almost an hour later to say that she hadn’t seen Will yet – retrieving his luggage and going through customs takes time – but as we were talking she suddenly cried out – “Oh – I didn’t even recognize him!  He’s standing here right in front of me!”  It was so much fun to have the chance to talk to him right after he landed – we put the call on speaker phone and we all got to hear his excitement at arriving in Massachusetts.  He had already purchased a Boston Creme Donut and a muffin at Dunkin Donuts!  The next stop was the Natick Mall, where he was able to purchase a cell phone to use during the summer.

Since he arrived we’ve spoken to him several times and all is going really well.  He is so happy to be in Franklin again.  He was able to go to graduation at the Charter school he attended for many years, and saw lots of his old teachers and friends there.  Our friend Lori took him to lunch at Isabella’s – his favorite sub place.  This weekend my sister Wendi and her family, plus my niece Kate and her boyfriend,  drove out from New York State to spend the weekend with him.  He’s having a ball!  Thanks so much for your prayers for his safe arrival in the States.  Please continue to pray for him as you think of him – that his summer will be fun and meaningful, and safe!

“Seussical”

Published on June 4, 2009 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments

will-and-ellie

Will played the role of “Mr. Mayor” in the musical “Seussical” at Dakar Academy several weeks ago.  Everyone did a great job – we really enjoyed the production.  Here’s a look at a few clips of Will performing, along with Ellie Adamson, who played the role of “Mrs. Mayor,” and their son “Jo-Jo,” played by Sam Adamson.

http://blip.tv/file/get/Wmartin64-Seussical767.mpg

(PS – sorry, I thought I would be able to post a link that would take you directly to the movie when you clicked on it – but I can’t figure out how to do that.  So you’ll have to copy and paste the address above to get to the Seussical clips…)