Another picture (by Thom)

Like I'm going to let Amanda have all the fun in posting pictures? :) Here's a picture I took from the roof of our house. We're situated right next to an old French colonial fort which is falling apart. The girls love to climb the sand dune and dig and play in it. When we all go out there it's quite the spectacle for the whole neighborhood and lots of kids come to play with us.
And below is a satellite picture of our house from Google Maps (in the middle, casting a shadow onto the sand dune). You can use the + and - on the map to zoom in and out and see where we are on the peninsula:

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Some pictures (by Amanda)

My little helpers are washing dishes. I get to re-clean them afterwords. What fun!

The girls and I went to the Zoo this morning. We got there a little early so we visited the Botanical garden next to the zoo. It was a tiring but enjoyable morning.

These short updates and more are also posted on my Facebook page. If you'd like to follow me I'm available here.

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Setting Up in Dakar (by Thom)

A little over a month ago we arrived in our new country - Senegal. After spending the last four years in Mali, Senegal is a bit of a culture shock. Even though we're geographically close (it's only a 2 hour plane flight back to Bamako, Mali!) this place is considerably different. Our lifestyle has changed quite a bit. We're in an apartment now instead of a house and we live in a neighborhood with many other missionaries and Westerners. The focus of our roles in ministry has changed a lot, too. These are just a few of the changes; I hope to expand more about our new lives in this blog over the coming months. Up next I'll be introducing our new teammates here in Dakar, Senegal.

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July Car Fund Update (by Thom)

Once we found out we were going to be moving from Mali to Senegal to serve the mission from the Regional Office, we were faced with the task of raising funds for a new car. In Mali we had a 10 year old Jeep Cherokee, which served us well but was unable to make the move with us. In many countries over there you cannot import a vehicle over 5 years old. So for the past several months we've been mentioning to churches, family, and friends that in order to buy a car we need to raise funds. Our goal is $25,000. That's not a magic number or anything, and probably won't allow us to buy a new car (vehicles are much more expensive in West Africa), but it's our goal. If we can raise more we will be able to buy a sturdier, newer vehicle.

In July we received gifts of $1,126.80 bringing our total to $14,155 or 56.6% of our goal. To borrow an idea from the United Way, here's our fund-raising thermometer:

If you would like to help with this need there are a couple of options. You can send a tax-deductible gift to:

The C&MA
Thom McMurray Vehicle Special
P. O. Box 35000
Colorado Springs, CO 80935

There's also a secure way to make your donation on-line, through the C&MA's website. If this interests you, click here.

Thanks for considering this and praying for us. We'll keep this updated and hopefully start to see this car turn more red in the months to come.

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