We forgot to take the family picture BEFORE the SIX-HOUR worship meeting!! So we're probably not looking our very best, but we thought we'd try anyway (our poor kids, we push them to the limit so much!) 

Laurance holding Lael, who did great and slept through most of the long worship time; Laurance is a good friend of our family and helps Kelly with housework three days a week 

Tori & her friend Bensha (Laurance's daughter); they are the same age and their birthdays are just a few weeks apart; every year we have a joint BD party for the two of them 

Ronnie & Randy (the Aja people get a big kick out of our names sounding so much alike); they also think Dad looks so young that he could be my brother! 

Mom & Dad (and several of Dad's Christian friends) gave a gift of $50 to the group of church leaders toward the purchase of a sound system (they rent one now for when they have large meetings); here, Dad has just presented the gift and they are announcing it to everyone else and giving thanks! 

Dad's Lesson (Randy translating) 

All Church Meeting (Women's Side) 

All Church Meeting (Mens' Side) 

Final Ladies Class (Fri)

(Post composed by Kelly on Friday evening)

Another great day with Ronnie and Judy…..This morning began with them making us breakfast! What a treat. We had delicious breakfast burritos. The morning passed quickly entertaining kids and feeding babies.

Then around 2 PM, we left Timothy, Jonathan, and Lael with Randy and Ronnie, and Judy, Tori, and I left for the final women’s meeting in the village of Dekpo. We started our meeting earlier today because we had arranged for us all to share a meal together in celebration of the completion of our study. There was definitely a sense of excitement in the air. Singing, dancing, and laughter characterized this last day of our study through the book of John. Many of the women were able to repeat memory verses from all of our previous lessons and everyone was able to repeat John 3:16 which they had memorized just last week.

At least 30 women have attended regularly these meetings over the last 3 months. They were all there today, along with 7 men and around 50 children. Several have been baptized over the course of this time.

We returned home to find happy kids with Ronnie and Randy and the wonderful aroma of Ronnie’s hamburgers filling the house.

It was a great day. Here are some pictures.
-KELLY

The men join in! 

More Praising God! 

Praising God, dancing around the pole! 

Tori, Kelly and Nana waiting on the meeting to start 

Kelly, Dawna Price and Tori 

Nana & Tori  

Another Great Day with Mom & Dad

It was another great day....Dad and I started the morning at 7a fixing a leaky kitchen sink. By 9:30, we were out the door, heading to the beach! We arrived there by 11a....at Awale Plage (ah-wah-lee-plah-juh). It is a nice quaint beach resort near our house (less than 2 hours away) and even has a pool, too! We got to walk on the beach some and then grab a quick bite to eat at the restuarant. Then we had another hour in the pool. It was a quick trip but fun.

Mom bought some souvenirs at the market because today was Market Day. Grand total spent: $3. So much for radically boosting the economy!

We got back about 4p and then we were sitting down at Sossa's house by 5pm. Sossa (with wife Josephine, right) has worked for us for 6 years now...since the week we moved in to our home here in Benin. He is such a hard worker. He was so eager to host Mom and Dad to express his gratitude for all that we have done for him. I'll try and get Dad to guestblog about that meal experience tomorrow. It was a ton of food!! It came a downpour, and on the loud tin roof, we couldn't hear ourselves think for a long time! (it was much needed rain though).

We are all very tired after a long day...I've had some great conversations with Mom and Dad and I'm so thankful for each one. It is a blessing to have them in my home here in Africa!! God is good to all of us!!

After dinner, Mom and Dad shared some gifts with Sossa's siblings...this one is the box with the lid with different shapes...of course Tori and Timothy loved teaching them how it works 

Randy, Timothy, Dad and Tori 

Kelly, Jonathan and Mom 

Eating the first of at least 5 courses...chicken and rice!