1,000th Post

Guess what!

This is my 1,000th post!

I started this blog in July 2009. 

At that point, it was just something fun to do. 

Plus, it'd be a way I could keep my family, friends, and supporters up to date on my life and ministry here in Senegal. 

I honestly never thought of getting to Post #1,000.

And you know, I must say... 

It feels kind of cool. 

Because while I've never felt like a very creative person, this blog has been my creative outlet over the years.

And sure, a lot of my posts are full of randomness. 

But I love all the random times that make up all the memories I have written about on this blog. Random times like...

It's random times with my students in the classroom, laughing over something silly someone said. It's reading through a novel together and working on experiments and projects and solving complicated math problems. It's individualizing lesson plans and activities and advocating for services to be received.

It's events at school, like watching my student sing in a talent show. It's leading Kids Club and Elementary Camp and all the fun those provide. It's attending Movie Nights and Harvest Fest and school musicals or plays. It's Sunday morning church, held on campus. It's watching students play sports after school or on Saturday mornings and it's going to the Sunday morning church service held on campus.

It's random times spent shopping at an outdoor market or checking out a new grocery store in town, seeing what goodies are available. It's getting excited over finding a random can of Dr. Pepper or a pack of tortillas. It's buying strawberries and english muffins from the ladies who sell at the school gate each Wednesday afternoon. It's time spent chatting with the fruit guy who sits with his rickety old cart outside our school gate. Sometimes buying fruit and sometimes just chatting about our families or the school or life in this city we call home...

It's random conversations with people at an airport on my way back to Dakar or chatting with people at churches back home. Telling them all about the incredible ministry (work) God has allowed me to be a part of...

 It's random times spent with co-workers at conferences and retreats while on the field, learning all sorts of new things or just hanging out by a pool or around a table, playing a game and laughing 'til the wee hours of the morning.

It's having dinner together and chatting about school and life. It's taxi rides and softball games by the ocean. It's Bible Studies and trips to The Spot after a long day at work. It's navigating life together in a foreign country whose customs sometimes are a little confusing, yet you still love them all the same.

It's random life events with family and friends while in the US - like lunch dates and road trips, watching dance practice, and picking up my nieces from school. It's cooking meals with my Mama and going to family reunions. It's laughing with my brother and sister-in-law over old memories. 

It's all of those random times and so many more.

That's what's made this blog so much fun for me.

And that's why I continue.

So to all who read it

THANK YOU

Thank you for joining me on this "random" ride :)