See You Later

Yesterday we said goodbye to our dear friends, Ryan and Lizz Durbin. As I write this, they are probably getting ready to land in the states, where they haven't been in two years! It's hard to believe that the time has already gone by. John and I remember waiting in anticipation for the Durbins to arrive: they were our age, they were CAMA, and they dressed cool! HA! It sounds dumb, but we knew we would click with them. Our "friendship" actually goes back even a few years earlier, oh..say, 2001, baby! Ryan hung out with my friends and I at the LIFE conference in Columbus, and got in trouble for going to the mall with us and not asking his youth pastor. I have a faint memory of this, but still, it's pretty cool. We all stayed at the same hotel together. Who knows, I might have passed Lizz wearing her Roxy shirt and thought, "Wow, that chic knows how to dress!" Who would have thought that six years later we would be working in Senegal at the same time?! Craziness!

Their friendship has meant so much to us, and I swear it has carried us through so many difficult times here. No matter what was happening, we knew that Ryan and Lizz would always sit and listen to us gripe and moan about stupid dorm stuff that they probably thought was so lame, and that we would always have fun hanging out. I must say we have had some good times kickin' it here in the DK. We were pretty darn creative for having NOTHING to go off of here. Who needs TV, when you can drink wine and preform I-Pod Karaoke for a room full of people? No one, I tell you, no one needs TV when you have that. Anyway, we love you guys so much and we will miss you dearly! We are so excited to see how God is going to use you to do his work. There's no telling where you'll end up next. Love you guys.

...one more thing. Now you've been mentioned in my blog THRICE...count yourselves blessed, friends.

Last day in Dakar (yesterday) at a soccer game that we kind of watched.

Our ghetto fabulous New Years partaaay!!!

Hanging out at the orphanage.

The Durbin's still talked about Halloween party. I mean, "Hallelujah" party.

Breaking down on the side of the road going to Saly. Poor Levi.

The ever talked about I-Pod kareoke. Try it, you'll like it.

One of their first weeks here at the Gambia vs. Senegal game.

There was a massive riot after the game and we had to drive through the burning tires and screaming people to get home.

Chillin' with Lizz's friend, Anna in Saly.

Right after they got their beloved Moto. Lizz was going stir-crazy at the guest house and came to take me on a joy ride. I was pregnant and John was worried...=0) Oh, and then when I drove, I came THIS close to crashing.

Desert camping...awwhhhhh.

We love you guys!!!