We live in a second floor apartment.  When our windows are open, we can hear what's going on just outside our place.  We thought we'd share some of the most common sounds that travel through our window on any given day:

• "Chirp! Chirp!" - That's my best imitation of the onomatopoeic sounds produced by little birds.  Believe it or not, even though we live in a world class city, we have a mango tree just outside our window, in which birds like to hang out and sing to us.  I don't usually care for birds (unless they're served with a side of mashed potatoes!), but these little guys are pretty cute (and not terribly loud!).
• "Jen y yangi!" (jen ee YAHN gee) - The "fish lady" announces "Here's the fish!"  Just before it's time to start making lunch, you can hear her coming down the street offering the catch of the day.  Senegal is famous for its wonderful selection of fish.
•   "Yaboy!" (yah BOY) - A man is heard calling out the name of the most inexpensive fish available here.  It has lots of bones, but is still quite tasty.
• "Plomier!" (plohm YAY) - This word, meaning "plumber" (in French and Wolof), is shouted by an unemployed man walking the streets of Dakar offering his professional services.
• "Balai!" (ball AY) - A term meaning "broom" (in French and Wolof), this is what the "broom boy" cries out as he wanders the city's neighbourhoods selling his brooms, mops, buckets, and other cleaning paraphernalia. 
• "Balit!" (ball EET) - This is the Wolof word for "trash," and signifies the arrival of the garbage man with his horse & carriage just outside our door.  We pay +/- $10 per month for this daily service. 
• Blaring Incessant Honking - A free trash pick up service along the main arteries of Dakar, this huge garbage truck notifies the community of its arrival by honking constantly everywhere it goes, at which time people come running out of their homes with their rubbish.
• Call to Prayer Five Times a Day - The first one is at around 5 AM and the last is close to 9 PM.  Due to the former, we have to sleep with our windows closed but, fortunately, we don't live right in front of a mosque.  We have a few friends who do, and they can tell when the singer has caught a cold! 
• Muslim Spiritual House Parties - These can take place at any time, but often occur around religious holidays.  The devout will set up speakers in their backyard and, at times, long into the night we'll hear people singing & chanting, or "getting their deeper praise on," as I put it.
• Salsa Parties - In contrast to the eastern, very religious feel of the above parties, these fiestas blare Latin music till all hours of the night.  It's wild!  The Senegalese love my people!  I never expected to be so bombarded by my own culture!  At first, I thought it was fun.  I changed my mind when Gloria Estefan started keeping us awake till the wee hours of the morning!
• "Amina!" "Awa!" "Mactar!" - These are the names of some of the kids in our neighbourhood, and we hear their play talk and giggles all day long.  Their little voices are so adorable, even when they're getting busted!  We've appreciated these little cuties particularly since we've learned we're going to be parents ourselves.

Speaking of which, since I make fun of a certain friend whose blog has become my personal cure for insomnia with all the baby allergies talk (You know I love you, Gracie!), I will do my best use this blog not only to keep you posted on our pregnancy, but also to continue to share observations and lessons learned as cross-cultural workers in Senegal.

It's time to share our "little secret" - I'm pregnant!  After losing our first two babies to miscarriages, we wanted to wait a bit before broadcasting our news to the world.  I had a nasty few months of nausea, vomiting, excess salivating, heartburn, stomach cramps, food aversions, fatigue, and insomnia - to name a few of my baby's gifts to me!  We have a caring, compassionate doctor, however, who told us the sicker I feel, the healthier the baby is, so I had to "suck it up!"  I'm out of the risky first trimester now and am feeling a lot better (though not 100%), and I am finally able to think past basic survival to preparation for d-day, so any tips would be appreciated.

We went in for another check-up today, and the doctor took an ultrasound but we didn't get a copy of it, so I have no updated pix to post.  I did find this cool "pregnancy ticker," which, I hope to put on the side or top bar of this blog, if I can figure it out (any tips in that regard would be helpful as well).



BTW, in case you're curious, IT'S A GIRL!  I hadn't wanted to find out the gender of the baby b/c I love surprises, but Dan wanted to know, and I like to plan ahead, so we snuck a peak. 

So often this verse is dismissed or minimized in conservative evangelical circles because it has been so abused and taken out of context by the world in the name of tolerance of just about every alternative lifestyle imaginable.  The more I think about it, however, the more I find this to be tragic. 

Pride is one of the most acceptable sins in our church culture.  If a Christian leader confesses to struggle with pride, many of us may even identify with him/her and say to ourselves that it's not a big deal.  If s/he were to admit to an anger problem or a lust problem, we wouldn't necessarily be so agreeable.  Yet the Scriptures call pride ("haughty eyes") an abomination, and place it in the same category as murder ("hands that are quick to shed innocent blood"):

    16There are six things which the LORD hates,
         Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him:
    17Haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
         And hands that shed innocent blood,
    18A heart that devises wicked plans,
         Feet that run rapidly to evil,
    19A false witness who utters lies,
         And one who spreads strife among brothers.
    Proverbs 6:16-19 (emphasis added)

What are not listed in the "top seven list" of things God hates are many of the lifestyle choices we are so quick to judge in others, some of which are not even clearly sin issues, but rather matters of personal preference or conviction.  So, I return to Christ's words to His disciples, timeless and life-giving, and ask myself, "What does it mean for me to take the log out of my own eye before looking at the speck in my brother's?"  As I interact with others in the body of Christ (because the context Jesus is speaking of appears to be the believing community), what bearing will Jesus' words have on how I perceive others who aren't making the same choices I would?  I think the Lord is calling us to give people a lot more grace than we do sometimes.  And He's inviting us to look inside our own hearts and remedy the disgusting sin of pride that has been tolerated for way too long.  Any thoughts?