from louisiana

i miss niger. i miss sarah. i miss the mission family. and alatou. razak. balla. sharif. tombaye. chaibou...
i miss the blessings and even the challenges. i miss the simplicity of life. reality.
i miss cooking. i miss the neighborhood kids. i miss sarah's music.
oh, the stars.
i miss making the chief laugh.
i miss greeting everyone in town: the egg seller, phone card seller, tire repairman, the meter-reader man, the bus manager, the onion man...
i miss all the fulani stopping by on sundays on their way to market.
i miss communicating (or trying to) in so many languages.
i even miss hunting down the moving apple seller in maradi.

i miss sharing God's story with a people who don't know Christ. they've accepted a world of lies. they are afraid...of change, of what people will think...

life here (in america) isn't simple. it isn't even reality.
but even here, many have accepted a world of lies and are afraid...

why am i here? as the fulani say, "allah tan anndi," or only god knows. this isn't easy. i want so much more. i am here. there is a reason. he is sovereign, no doubt.

i have one of sarah's songs on my heart tonight. here it is:

"open eyes, open eyes that they might see
open minds, open minds that they might know
open ears, open ears that they might hear
open hearts, open hearts that they might go

take your gospel, take your gospel to the world
let your word bring salvation
send us out, send us out
by your spirit, oh god
bringing light to the nations

whom shall i send to go for me
whom shall i send to declare the mystery"

st louis

yesterday mom, dad, and i headed west to st louis for the day. this is one thing i love about my parents. we go places, just to go...always lots of fun!















i'm short, but i felt really short standing under the arch.
















go west young woman.
i'm moving west of the mississippi this week for the first time.















the arch and the st louis courthouse.

the busko family loves going to the zoo. any chance we get, we go.
















our favorite exhibit yesterday: the penguins!

and the st louis zoo was free! if i lived there, i'd go nearly everyday.

parks and snow...brrr

no more sand, hot sun, and dust storms.
yesterday mom and i explored some of louisville's parks.
















i'm still sporting a head wrap of sorts...only to keep my head warm. it's cold here.
















look a here: trees & hills
















later we headed across the ohio river into southern indiana.
















here's a railroad bridge crossing the ohio, with a dam of sorts.
the sweet sound of water...how i love being near water!
















there's a bunch of water in louisiana, right? that's a plus.
















speaking of louisiana, i'm ready for some warmer weather; but not niger warmer!
i've been from one extreme to another. hot as blazes in niger. cold as ice in kentucky.

this first day of 2008 it snowed!
















buster walking around on the snow-covered porch.
















Happy New Year!

random: the other night, mom and i were watching tv. she mentioned this show about a family who moves to africa. so we flipped to it and i began rolling my eyes. this was like a wealthy family living in a rich area of south africa. within the first few minutes this lady was remodeling her house, and the men said "this is the bush..." whatever!!! i changed the channel.