A place to live

"Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,

Because His compassions fail not.

They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.

“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,

“Therefore I hope in Him!”

 (Lamentations 3:22–24).

Praises:

Hiding from the camera

1. We are thankful that we finished our ESL training and received our diplomas. We are working on developing a tutoring program to help some of our friends learn English. It will be a way for us to have some income to cover our expenses and hopefully it will also serve as a way to make friends for Christ in our community.
2. It has been sometime since we updated our prayer blog, since our last blog we traveled to the Casamance and were able to bring back Lika with us. It has been a blessing to have her in our family. It has not been without conflict as the children find their new places in the family circle and as we help to teach her the way we do things as a family. God has been good to us though and we are all growing in many ways. 
3. God has blessed us with good health recently, for this we are grateful. It is always a blessing to be able to have good health. 
4. Boaz was able to get a job working as a substitute teacher in an international school in Dakar. We have some friends who work there and they recommended that we should apply. Boaz only worked for four days total before the end of the year, but we are grateful for the funds and for the chance to meet new people. LaRae also plans to apply to work as a sub this coming academic year.
5. We have been looking for a vehicle for some time. It seems they either sell before we even call, or they are out of our budget. Just last week, through a series of mini-miracles we were able to buy a Toyota Hilux just under budget. God is good. We have already put it to use hauling beds. 

Requests:

1. We are currently looking for a place to live. We have been blessed to live with a friend in Dakar, but she will need the rooms we have been using soon. Our prayer is to find a place with a protected place for the children to play and enough room for all of us and those who likely will be living with us. Please pray that God will show us just the right place and that it can be a blessing to more than just our family.
2. One of the things we need to accomplish in the near future is to create a local NGO (Non Governmental Organization). The benefit of this will be local tax free status, work permits, a name to be used when doing outreach projects, etc. We are working on name ideas in French and in several local languages, but have not found the right name yet. Please pray that we will find a name that will be an honor to God and will give the right information. 
3. Please pray that we will be able to communicate better as a family. With so many uncertainties and the upheaval of our family over the last few months, our communication has not always been the best. We need God's help as we strive to come closer together to better serve our kids and those around us.