Alyssa and I are on a date

Alyssa and I are having a dinner and movie date and spending some special time together before the big trip.
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Donations

Look at all these amazing donations!

School at Home - and SNOW!!

Zach is on fall break October 27-29, and so we planned on having "school at home" for a few days. But then the storm came in, and we have 16 inches of fresh powder at our house. Zach is doing a good job of balancing school with fun!!

Trying to stay healthy!

The only thing that is worrying me right now is the flu. Alyssa had it over the weekend, but none of the rest of us have had it. Please please please let us stay healthy!!

6 days to departure!

We are 6 days to departure! It is hard to believe that the trip is finally upon us. Today is Zach's last day of school before we leave (Denver Public Schools has 3 days off for fall break this week). Zach will be doing "school at home" during those days, primarily working on science fair and math.

We are experiencing a moment of hopeful calm right now, and still crossing our fingers for good health. Alyssa has been sick with the flu since Friday and is much better today. So far, none of the rest of us have gotten it, and we are hopeful (knock on wood as you read this) that we have escaped it. We would have loved to get Zach the swine flu vaccine prior to departure but it is just not available for kids who are not high risk.

Zach took his first dose of mefloquin (anti-malarial) today. We ground it up and put it in applesauce, which Zach described as "just foul." Maybe pudding will be a better option for while we are in Senegal! Luckily he only has 7 doses to take total. One down, 6 to go!

We are packed and for the most part and ready to go. The one lingering thing is that we need to get gifts for Mamadou's family. Mamadou has 2 wives and 8 kids. I asked him the names and ages of all the kids and he couldn't give me the ages at all - just rough estimates. That is a good cultural difference...our kids are so focused on their birthdays, and Mamadou doesn't even know how old his kids are!! Zach suggested that I should have asked him how many rainy seasons they have had...that is a good idea.

We have a huge bag of school supplies and toothbrushes. The important thing is that it weighs in under 50 pounds, which I think it does. The generosity of friends and family has been amazing. Zach's school community and our church have also come through with donations. It will be very fun to hand out all those pencils and pens!

We'll keep you posted. We will be updating our blog as much as possible - sometimes with Todd's help. Because I am not taking my own computer, I will be using others as much as possible. Also, I will be able to email Todd via my phone, and then he can post my messages on the blog.

Thank you for all your support. Keep sending healthy thoughts our way!!!

Donations abound!

Thank you to everyone who has given us donations for our trip to Senegal!! Our goal was to be able to fill one big bag, and it looks like we are on track for just that. We have a giant duffle and it is not full yet, but getting close, and I know that there are a few donations still out there. Thank you to everyone who has contributed!!

So far, this is our inventory of what we have received: 12 pairs of scissors, 12 sharpeners, 11 rulers, 6 glue sticks, 48 crayons, 138 erasers, 210 markers and colored pencils, 92 pens, 518 pencils, 137 toothbrushes, and 28 tubes of toothpaste!

It will be so fun to hand these things out to the kids. Thanks to the communities at Polaris at Ebert and First Unitarian Society of Denver for their contributions.

We have also received incredible generosity from friends and family members who have contributed financially to our trip. At this point, Zach and I have met our fundraising goal. Thanks to all of you!! The money that we raised will be added to the money from the rest of the group and will be used to buy more school supplies in Senegal, to buy mosquito nets to hand out, and to help support the Africans who will be traveling with us, and to paint murals in two of the schools (we are also painting a mural in the high school in Summit County). Our goal is to identify development projects in the villages on which we can partner over the long term, so it is possible that some of your money will be seed money for something like that. We'll keep you posted as it all evolves.

Again, thank you to all of you!! We are pretty well packed and our only concern right now is STAYING HEALTHY!!.

Take care and watch for our posts throughout our trip.

Thanks to all the guests at Zach's birthday party!

Zach held his birthday party at the Art Students League of Denver. Instead of gifts, he asked for donations of school supplies Thanks to all the kids who donated all these great items!!