First Moments: Relived

(Monday, March 11th, 2013)

I knew the nostalgia would start to come as I climbed the steps of Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center. Mary was in surgery and with every step I took to reach the 3^rd floor she was getting closer to meeting her new little one. I couldn't help but be brought back to the time almost two years ago when I was in her place.

The steps I climbed were concrete, wet in places, and accompanied by a dirty handrail. At each floor there was an open corridor, with a slatted wall letting in the fresh, cool breeze coming in off the mountain. Finally on the third floor we walked the hallway and I glanced over the edge of the half-wall next to me. Beneath was a courtyard of sorts, with several clotheslines displaying the morning's laundry put out to dry. Directly across were the surgery rooms, Mary was in the first on the right. 

Steve (Peter's dad) & I saw Anne (Peter's mum) waiting for us at the corner and we all walked down to have a seat on the bench and wait at the end of the hall that lead to the surgery rooms.

When we heard it we all looked at each other, then down the hallway. That just had to have been baby Street's little cry we heard! Immediately following Anne got a text – it was from Peter: “It's a girl!!” We all got up and walked to the end of the hallway, peaking through the birthing center doors and down the hall in hopes of catching a glimpse of something telling us everything was going well. 

Kuzalia (coo-zah-LEE-uh) means "To be born" in Swahili

We saw Peter pop out of the room on the left (where Mary was) and go into a room on the right (where the baby was), flashing us a thumbs-up on the way. 

We waited for what seemed like ages, but was probably only a few minutes, hearing the sweet little girls cries here and there, and watching Peter go back and forth checking on baby, then checking on mom. 

While we waited the memories came back to me as well – watching them pull Owen out of my stomach, then handing him off to the nurses to be cleaned up, then handed him to Bill so we could be together as a family before they took him away to get him started on his IV to get rid of the infection we both caught during labor. Watching Peter go back and forth between Mary and the baby made me wonder what it must have been like for Bill to have to stay with me while they took O. That wasn't an option for us, at least it wasn't presented as one, so we didn't get to see him again until I was in post-op.

Finally they wheeled Mary out to the hallway, just outside the door the baby was in. Peter's mum was given the 'ok' to go see the baby (they're very strict about people going into this area of the hospital). She had to switch out her shoes for some flip flops that were sitting near the red 'do-not-cross' line on the floor, and put on a doctor's coat before she could cross the threshold to see the baby. Next was Steve's turn so Anne put the coat on him, and he tried to slip on the too-small flip flops in place of his crocs to go see his new grandbaby. When he returned they said it was my turn. Peter was just brining the baby out of the room to see Mary when I got the coat and flip flops on and got my camera ready. It was such a sweet moment to capture; Peter holding Naomi Grace up to Mary so she could smell the sweet new-baby smell of her daughter. So she could feel her breath on her cheek and hear the soft coo-ing coming from her soft voice. Tears began to fill Mary's eyes and I found myself having a hard time seeing through my lens. 

The memories came back again, so extremely vividly, of Bill holding Owen next to my face, just as Peter was doing for Mary. The tears that came on that day were uncontrollable for me, and they were of pure joy, just as I imagine they were for Mary in that moment.

I also truly enjoyed watching Peter fawn over his new little girl. I imagine a new gun will be added to this family's collection soon, but such is the territory with daughters I hear. :)

As I was snapping Peter asked if I would hold Naomi so he could change out of the scrubs – was that even a question?! I took that sweet girl in my arms, wrapped only in the hospital issue blue blanket and I could feel her small, warm body through the thin linnen. I rocked her slightly and she cooed and fidgeted around with her hands and feet. I could feel her bare bottom beneath the blanket – the hospital doesn't provide diapers, so she'd be bare until they were in post-op and could get to their suitcase with all their supplies in it.

Before I knew it Peter was out of his scrubs and they were getting ready to roll Mary down to the post-op room. I handed Naomi back to her daddy and resumed my place behind the lens – totally and utterly caught up in the moment the Street family had so generously offered for me to share. Even as I type this I can't believe the opportunity I had to be a part of such a sacred time for this family, it was truly a blessing.

Down in the post-op room, which was one large room with about 5 beds in it I think, Mary got transferred to the bed while Peter & Anne went to see about getting a diaper on Naomi and wrapping her in the blankets from home, which were much softer and warmer. 

(Getting a diaper on Naomi - that's a bassinet you see in the foreground)

What an amazing morning it was, and it wasn't even 9am yet! I am so blessed to have been a part of the Street family welcoming this new little life, it is a moment I know they will never forget, and I know I won't either.

Re-Cap (March 11th)

Wow. It's been a while. I guess I'll pick up where I left off – on Tuesday.

Tuesday morning Mandee & I walked to Kasey's for playgroup with Owen & Harper. There ended up being about a dozen or so kids/moms there and O had a blast. 

He got down right away and started playing. At playgroup I got to meet a handful of other moms that live in the area, only a couple of them missionaries. One mom is here for business – her husband is a coffee trader. Another mom is here because she wanted her kids to get a more cultured experience growing up. She's a yoga instructor and teaches mountaineering when she's not chasing around her one year old. It was nice to break out of the bubble and meet non-missionary moms, but moms that still love Africa and all that Moshi has to offer. After play group we hung out at Peter & Mary's for a little while, before coming home for dinner & bed. Our evenings here have been about the same most nights. We have dinner, let O play for a little bit, do bath time and bed for him, then Bill & I will play card games on the computer and/or watch a movie before heading to bed ourselves. It's been nice to have it so simple. There's no TV in the apartment and I'm totally fine with that. We use the computer to watch movies and it's helped us be more intentional about communicating – er – remembering to communicating. Even back home in the States we recently decided to go screen-free for two nights of the week. No computer or TV on means we remember to actually have meaningful conversation and get creative about entertaining ourselves, rather than him playing a computer game and me pinning things on Pinterest that (let's face it) I'll probably never actually accomplish. :)

Anyway, Wednesday was a pretty relaxed day, we hung out all morning at home then walked to the Street's in the afternoon to do Mary's maternity session. 

From there, we walked over to Vince & Vickie's for a potluck dinner and worship time. 

The potluck was a baked potato bar and someone was kind enough to bust out their stash of Velveeta – normally I don't like that stuff, but they did something to it and it was amazing over that baked potato! It was a real taste of America :) Bill & I had a chance to talk more with Ruth & Steve, the current administrators (principals, essentially) at Hope International School. They've been there for the schools first year but now know God is calling them to head back to California, so Vince & Vickie will be administrating next year, until the school can find someone to come on long-term. Stacy talked to us about this when she was over the other day and I think I would love doing the administrator's job. I'm not positive, of course, since I haven't even worked at the school – but I know it wouldn't be as crazy as trying to be a principal at a public school in the States! Anyway, we also met a guy named Alex that's working with churches in a village near Lake Manyara. His dream is to eventually have a drive-through coffee shop in the area, with all the proceeds going to help the poorer locals from the surrounding villages. He is also the current community developer for Hope School. He was going to be drumming for worship and O came over and sat on my lap eye-balling his drum (it was sort of jembe-looking, but smaller). Alex held out the drum for him and O's face lit up like you wouldn't believe. His eyes got a big, and his mouth dropped open a little bit – he thought it was the coolest thing ever that Alex let him play the drum a little before worship.

Thursday was another low-key day for the most part. I had a photo session in the morning and got to meet the Schultz family. 

They're from Michigan but have been living in Moshi for about six years as Baptist missionaries planting churches. We went out to Melinda's property for the session. Melinda is another mzungu (mm-ZOON-goo: white person) living in Moshi, but not as a missionaries. Her and her husband own thousands upon thousands of chrysanthemum plants that they export all over the world. She also is an amazing cook/baker and does the catering for Wild at Heart Safaris (the Street's safari co.). We had her boxed lunch when we went on safari and it was far from a 'box lunch'. It had a gorgeous salad with a vinaigrette dressing, fresh raspberries and even an edible flour on it! Then there was a passionfruit cheesecake for dessert, and a pita filled with chicken salad. Anyway, her property is absolutely gorgeous, so it was neat to be able to do a session there. She also spoke with me about doing a session for her and her husband – a few family shots and some pictures of her food and treats for her business. Her husband also races pigeons and wants pictures of them for identification/selling purposes, so I'm looking forward to a very interesting session with them next week! After returning from the session with the Schultz family, we just bummed around at home most of the day, it was kind of nice.

Friday Mandee & us split a cab to head into town for some groceries. We went to the market, Union cafe (so I could get some fun things to use for a fundraiser back in the States), and Nakumatt. Nakumatt is like the closest thing to Wal-Mart that Moshi has. 

Harper & Owen like Nakumatt  :)

It's actually a brand new store, and the chain is based out of Kenya. It's very similar to a Wal-Mart, but on a much smaller scale. It is two stories tall, with groceries and household stuff on the first floor, and entertainment, mattressess, toys, etc on the second floor. The difference between Nakumatt (nock-OO-mot) and Wal-Mart is also pricing. Nakumatt tends to be more expensive for most things than the local ma & pa shoppes and the market. There are some things you can get for a good price – like bread is only 2000tsh for a good-sized, fresh baked sliced wheat loaf – but their produce and some other things, like pancake syrup (at 12,500 tsh ($7.81!! for a normal sized bottle of (fake) syrup!) are quite a bit more expensive. Things like that, though (syrup, nutella, etc.) are generally more expensive here anyways because they're imported. After getting all of our errands run, we just hung out at home the rest of the evening.

Saturday we got to spend some time with Gaudy and Justin (and Nikki & Bella of course!) We planned a morning photo session for them, then just hung out and let the kids play, and ended our time together with lunch. 

Nikki & Owen were so cute to watch play together. Owen decided he had to wear socks and shoes that day, and when we got there we took his shoes off, and Nikki ran and told Gaudy she wanted to wear socks like Owen. Later on in our stay his socks ended up coming off because he was hot, so Nikki had to take her's off too. Wherever Nikki went (in the yard, in the bedroom, etc) Owen had to follow. And wherever Owen went, Nikki had to follow. It was pretty darn adorable. After Bella woke up just before lunch time Owen immediately asked to hold her. He was all coy about asking me “Hold, baby?” so I told him he had to ask Gaudy. He climbed up on my lap and was happier than a clam to hold that sweet little baby (who's just less than 4 weeks old). 

He was so intent on examining her and softly touching her tiny little toes and fingers. He was quite upset when I shifted her away from him when she started fussing. He almost cried. Then he really did cry when she was getting too fussy and wanted to be walked around. Gaudy made some amazing beans & chopati for lunch, then we got packed up and headed home. After Owen's nap we piled in the car with the Streets and the Loudermilks (that's 6 adults and 7 children, in one SUV if you lost count) and headed to a friend's pool. None of the women (or Owen) swam but the guys and the kids had a bunch of fun while we all hung out poolside and chatted.

Sunday Stacy picked us up and we went to ICC church to hear Holly's dad preach. Apparently he's a pretty well-known preacher in the UK and he was in town to connect with Pastor Sho – the pastor at ICC. It was a great service, half of which Owen slept through. Afterward We headed to Pastor Sho's house for lunch and fellowship. He had a tent set up outside and had some food catered in and we all just hung out, ate, and talked. 

Owen had a blast when he discovered one of the other boys had a little Nerf football. He played with that thing almost the entire time with either Ben (Stacy's boy) or Bill. 

When he wasn't playing football with the boys, Owen was schmoozing the ladies – the teachers mostly. He was eyeing Miss Holly and Miss Rachel and Miss Rebecca quite a bit and being a little flirt! Meanwhile I got to connect with Holly's mom (or mum as she would say) and chatted at bit with her dad as well. I also noticed someone there that I had meant to connect with at worship the other night, but never had a chance to, so I slipped over and introduced myself. I felt drawn to her Wednesday when we were at the Welch's for dinner/worship and nothing had changed – when I went over and introduced myself and we got to talking I figured out why.

Vicki Hemman is single and has been living in Tz for a while now. Her daughter, would have been my age, but was killed in a car accident when she was 13. Her name was Amanda. (Weird?!) She's in the process of starting a home for girls/women that have been sexually abused/raped and/or trafficked in a village not too far from Moshi. The property has been purchased and when drilling the first well they realized there was flowing water at only 30 meters! The area around the 4-acre property is very poor and she hopes to be a huge impact to the community not only through housing a dozen or so girls/women, but by employing some of the locals as well, and having classes for them too. Her goal is for the home to be completely self-sustainable within two years. She kept telling me “I really don't know what I'm doing!” But I could tell from listening to her that she truly has a passion and a drive for this God-dream of hers and it's going to come to fruition because God does know what he's doing. I love how down-to-earth she is though, and how genuinely reliant on God she is. I think her quiet personality drew me in too :) It was awesome talking to her and getting to know her a bit. We parted ways at the end of the afternoon with intent to meet up again before we leave and I hope we're able to. We headed to the Loudermilk's guest house in the evening so Owen could play with Harper and so we could get online since we'd been without internet for several days.

And here I sit, Monday morning, waiting to be picked up by Peter's dad so I can head to the hospital. Mary has been prepped and taken in for surgery and we get to find out soon if the baby is a he or a she! I'm super excited to be able to capture their first moments with their new little one – and I'll admit, I'm interested to see the hospital too! 

Owen's Africa

Owen's Africa is being on the porch and outside.

"Po'ch?" He asks, 26 times a day.  It's more like a sun room - walls, floor and door with 3 of the walls being screens.   He loves being out there.  But most days that only lasts a few minutes and he's asking to "Go. atside?"  He loves being outside.
I'm not sure if it's because it's so warm here or what, be he always wants to be outside.  His favorite outside activity: sticks.  The kid is always on the hunt for a stick.  And there are plenty for him to find here.  Once he finds a stick he will either a) bang it, or, b) draw in the dirt with it.  He is such a boy.  And when he's banging the stick and it breaks, he keeps going until it's too small to bang and he finds another one.  Yesterday I witnessed him banging sticks on the brick wall on the side of the property for a good 10 minutes.  Not even kidding.

Owen's Africa is playing with friends.

When we're at the Street's house his activities broaden a bit because there are friends for him to play with and toys and such.  His favorite thing to do there is push people on bikes.
The other day our dear friend Gaudy came over and O and Nikki (a couple months apart from O) got reunited. They met when we were here last time and became fast friends.  It was sweet to see them play and interact again.

Nikki was happy for the free ride :)

He also really likes Harper, the 2 year old daughter of the Loudermilk's (who are staying the guesthouse at Peter & Mary's).  He calls her "Ha-per" it's quite cute. :)

   

Owen pushing Harper while Faith looks on

   

At playgroup - area moms, in Moshi for all different reasons, gather each week to hang out and let the littles play.

Owen's Africa is not having to ride in a carseat.

He doesn't look thrilled here, but that's cause he was tired.  He loves the freedom of sitting on a lap, or next to someone and sometimes even (close your eyes Americans) standing on the floorboards.  Don't freak out.  It's only when we're going slowly on the dirt roads. :)

Owen's Africa is adventure.

He loves going new places, walking to the store in the stroller, exploring all the new territory, sounds and people.  Every time he hears a new sound he asks what it is.  Like the locusts buzzing in the trees, the rooster crowing (at all hours of the day/night), the dinner bell at the boarding school next door, the morning doves cooing, the cawing of the weird-looking large birds that are around here.  He loves it.  

Standing on a ladder at the House of Hope, currently under construction. (houseofhopetz.org)

 

That is Owen's Africa.

Lately

{ We've been without internet for a couple of days, so pardon the late post}
March 3rd

Yesterday we moved into the apartment. It felt AH-mazing to unpack our suitcases! I'd been wearing the same 3-4 outfits just because I loathed digging through the baggies in the suitcases everyday to find something to wear. Now it's all hung and folded neatly in the wardrobe and my type-A self is at one with earth again. :) Honestly, it's really nice to be on our own too. We love the Street family to pieces and getting to know the Loudermilks has been a lot of fun too – but we're ready to jump in and test the waters of living in Moshi independently.

Speaking of jumping in – that's exactly what we did. Since we moved on a Sunday the only store that was open for groceries was Nakomat – which is Moshi's version of Wal-Mart. It's actually based out of Kenya, and the store here is brand-new. It's not the size of wal-mart, but it has just about everything that wal-mart would have – but most of it is Harris Teeter type prices. Some of the stuff is priced pretty well, but a lot of it is imported so it's hiked up a bit. That being said, we bought only the very bare essentials to get us through dinner, breakfast and lunch on Monday. That consisted of bread, a pack of sandwich meat, mayo, locally made potato chips, batteries (for the flashlight), milk, juice, raisin bread (splurge for breakfast!), milk and butter. All of that for 32,600 tsh. (That's Tanzanian Shillings, don't panic, only about $18). Oh, then we stopped at Woodlands, which is sort of like a c-store to grab some eggs- they have local ones for a decent price there. We've ordered some from the nuns Peter's mom gets her eggs from, but they won't arrive until Wednesday.

So we got home and finished getting settled in and unloading groceries then I made dinner. Ham sandwiches and chips for Bill & I, half a ham sandwich and some veggie puffs and applesauce (both from the States) for O. It was a nice first meal at our new 'home'.

Just as we went to put O in the bath the power went out. (Welcome to Africa: land of extremely unpredictable power availability) This meant no hot water and O doesn't like cold baths – so I threw a pot on the stove to boil water to add to the bath. Then we discovered the bath tub faucets wouldn't work. The water worked in the rest of the house so we called Peter and he said he'd come look at it later. It was getting late and we wanted O to get bathed, so we started filling up tubs in the sink and dumping them in the bath. Our life motto, especially on the mission field: cope and adjust. It was no big deal at all. We just went with it. O had a blast playing in the tub, got all spic-n-span clean (he was a hot mess after a day and a half with no bath!). 

Hot Mess, I tell ya.

We let him play for a few minutes and Peter showed up to check out the water situation. 

Always with the drumming...  :)

Turns out we just weren't turing the nobs far enough. Don't laugh too hard yet. I'll have you know I was turning both nobs about 80 times in a circle – to the point I thought they were just going to screw right off – and no water came out. Turns out (no pun intended, okay, maybe a little) that it takes exactly 83 turns to get the water to start coming out. ::Facepalm:: Hopefully we'll live that one down some day. So now that the water worked- err, we knew how to work it, we decided to brave the icy-cold shower. It wasn't bad. Let me rephrase that; It wouldn't have been bad, had it not already cooled down quite a bit. I may or may not have squealed a couple times once I fully immersed myself under the shower. BRR. But oh, to be clean and dirt free afterward made it all worth it. I edited pictures until the battery on my Mac got quite low, then we went to bed – around 9:30 I think. The neighborhood club, however, was too busy partying from the Kili Marathon so we got to fall asleep to some sweet tunes and bumpin' bass.

We awoke this morning to a rooster who did not know the difference between the sun and the moon. And I may or may not have wanted to shoot him and eat him for lunch. Then we awoke finally for the day at 7am when the boarding school next door clanged their bell (seriously it sounded like it was right outside our window) for their day to start. Then the kids came out and started shouting and that's what woke Owen up.

“Mama? Kids talking.”

“Yup, honey, the kids are talking.”

“Up?”

SO we brought him in bed with us in attempt to eeek out a few more minutes of laying-down time.

This morning for our first solo breakfast we had scrambled eggs and raisin bread toast. We don't have a toaster so I improvised and used the oven. Thank goodness for gas stoves, even with no power we can still cook! We enjoyed our mango-orange juice too (yum!). After breakfast we were having Stacy Helbling over to chat about some things. She (along with her husband Ryan) founded Global Effect, Hope International School and a few other projects. We had her over to specifically talk about the school and my (possible) involvement with them. She knows about my teaching background, and my desire to teach on the mission field, as well as our goal of being working missionaries (working to support ourselves, and having money from supporters act as a supplement at first, and one day be funneled straight into the ministry(ies) we end up working with. Turns out the school is looking for two new teachers in the fall, and a long term administrator to start the following year. We knew that they were hiring teachers because the Street's babysitter is one of the teachers at the school and we'd chatted with her one night. After talking with Stacy about some of the specifics though – what the school will cover (financially) for us to get here/live here, what exact positions they're hiring for, etc., it felt really good to have all the details written down. There's even an opportunity to move into a furnished 3 bedroom house for a pretty reasonable rate. We also discussed me doing a Picture Day for the school. This is their first year of being open and they haven't had school pictures, so I offered to go over and take class and individual pictures, and am super excited to be able to do it for them next week. I've even put together print packages the parents can buy and since Stacy will be back in the States shortly after we are, I can give her the prints to carry back on the plane rather than shipping them all the way back here.

Speaking of next week – I'll be subbing at the school on Monday. EEK! I'm a teensy, tinsy, {super}-bit nervous about jumping back into the classroom after being out of it for almost two years! The 3rd/4th grade (split class) teacher (the one I mentioned above) will be having her parents in town for the first time since she moved here straight out of University and they're going to be on Safari. So when I mentioned I wanted to come in and volunteer in the classroom Stacy suggested/asked if I would sub for the class. Excited! But also very nervous! I'm gonna have the first-day-of-school jitters again, I just know it.

Anyway, after talking with Stacy, O and the crocodile had a snack...

Completely his idea

I think he really thought it was eating it for a minute - he got really excited! :)

then we walked over the Street's house. Traci, a family friend and single mom of two boys was coming over to give us girls pedicures. She does this for her job and for only 10,000 tsh. Each, we all got our feet washed, massaged and toes painted. It's super cheap for us (that's only about $6) and it's a huge blessing for her since it's her only source of income.

I mentioned to Mary while we were there that our power had been out since last night and she was surprised because theirs hadn't. (The apartment is only about ¼ mile away from their house). So she said she'd tell Peter and he'd go check it out later.

That's not a tan line, that's what happens when you walk the dusty roads of Moshi for about 10 minutes.

We walked back home, made a quick lunch (sandwiches again) and put O down for his nap. About an hour later Juma (our taxi driver) arrived to take us into town for groceries. First stop was the money exchange, then we headed to the Market. This was my 2nd time, but Bill & Owen's first. I kind of love it there. But then again, both times I've been it hasn't been super busy or crowded, so maybe I'll think differently next time. Anyway, I knew exactly which booth I was going to and headed straight there. Thankfully there was a young boy working there that knew (most) English, so he helped us. I got 4 (large!) cucumbers, 3 (also large) carrots, 6 big tomatoes, 4 small potatoes, 2 small onions, 1 head of garlic, 1 pineapple, 2 green bell peppers and 8 bananas for only 9,000 tsh! (That's like $5) I was completely STOKED!

Next we headed to Aleem's Grocery – a little c-store that is known for having good prices. We got two bags of granola (750kilos each), a small jar of peanut butter, some local strawberry jam, a small bottle of ketchup, a pack of spaghetti noodles, jars of basil and oregano, a big thing of salt, a bag of pure raw cane sugar, a big box of corn flakes (cereal), two chicken breasts (not pieces, like the actual breast cut off the chicken, so it will give us 3-4 pieces of breast meat each), two packs of sandwich ham, a can of corn, a can of kidney beans, a big bottle of vinegar, a big block of cheese and a huge Cadburry bar (splurge!) all for about 76,000 tsh. Which is about $40. Here, fresh produce is WAY cheaper in the states, but pantry items are more expensive because they are usually imported (not necessarily from the states, although some are we don't buy them because they're the most expensive). We are hoping to get through the next two weeks on those groceries. Plus I'm having Mary's house mama make us some tortillas, and I'm paying her 6,000 tsh. to do that – it would be about twice that to buy them at a store. That should get us 2-3 chicken dinners, 2 spaghetti dinners, french toast dinner, 2-3 quesadilla dinners, sandwiches for lunch, eggs and toast for breakfast (cereal for Bill – no almond milk here for me unless I make my own). We will probably eat out a couple of times too.

After our trip to town (which only took about an hour for all that!) we came back and got things put away and I started chopping tomatoes and peppers for some fresh spaghetti sauce when I got a text from Peter asking if we wanted to join them at Naseebs. Um. YES. That place is amazing. Seriously. So I finished chopping and put it in the fridge for tomorrow and we went out for dinner. When Peter came to pick us up he discovered the breaker had been tripped and that's why we were out of power. So he flipped it back and it was fine. We each (the three of us) got a ¼ of a chicken (which had been marinated, then grilled over coals) and a load of french fries, bill got a Mountain Dew and I got a Coke and it was all only 14,700 tsh (about $10). Owen ate his entire chicken too – that's how good it is!

When we got home it was late so Bill hopped in the shower while I started wiping O down, sponge-bath style. The power went out about 5 minutes into it. We figured it was the breaker again because there were lights on at the neighbors so we called Peter and he came later to show Bill how to trip it back and gave him the key so he could do it. And now here I sit trying to record all the amazing things that are happening as our story continues to be written in Africa. Tomorrow is playgroup in the morning, and hopefully a maternity shoot for Mary in the afternoon. It's gonna be a great Tuesday in Moshi! 

In Which God is Writing with Invisible Ink

I'm beginning to see the faint outlines of God's pen writing our story.  You know, the outlines that show up when one writes with invisible ink.  Or water on paper.  I'm not sure what exactly he's writing but I know he's authoring an amazing tale.  I've been given glimpses into the story, but He hasn't quite revealed it all to me yet (or I haven't been paying close enough attention to see it if he has).

Last year when we returned from Tanzania I was slammed with photo sessions.  It was Crazy with a capital C.  We didn't understand why, especially because it lasted all the way through winter - which is very rare.  And then we heard God tell us to return to Moshi only 9 short months after our previous trip.  He was writing.  He knew we would need the funds, and he was writing all those sessions into our story so we would have the push we needed to continue fundraising.  He was writing all those people into our story so we could share our hearts with them and spread the word.

This time around we've been here for a week, and I've already scheduled three sessions (two stateside).  I've over-booked myself through the end of March and April and am almost booked up in May.  I've offered sessions to the missionaries and other families that live here and I've already got at least four families interested.  I wonder, what lies beneath these outlines of invisible ink I'm seeing?

As we observe the other family here transitioning into living here full time I can't help but think what it would be like if that were us.  And frankly: I feel like we're {extremely close to being} ready.  I want to jump right in, I want to learn to drive on the opposite side of the road.  I'm reading a book titled "Simplified Swahili", reading signs around town, and eavesdropping on conversations that Peter & Mary have and picking up a lot of the language.  I want to go to language school in Arusha and immerse myself in the study of this language.  I'm making friends and lunch dates and even going to a playgroup with O and I want this.  I cook on a gas stove with or without power.  I wash dishes by hand in a basin filled with water that was just boiling in a pot.  I watch O play with a stick, writing in the dirt and banging it, watching the dust fly.  And he's happy.

He sits down automatically to take his sandals off at the doorway and I see his dirty little feet pitter-patter across the tile.  And he is happy.  I go to the market and I want to remember which vendors are the best and fill my countertop with fresh produce.  I give O a bath in a tub filled with cold water, then a pot of boiling water to make it warm for him.  I want this.

I know there is SO much more that goes into coming here full-time, but I'm learning, we're learning all about it right now and I'm taking notes.  I know we aren't actually ready, but I also know we're pretty darn close.  The other night Bill (jokingly?) said, "So we're gonna move here in August so you can start the school year?".  I scoffed at his silliness.
But I kind of can't stop thinking about it.

I'm ready to hold this paper to the light so I can see black-on-white ink and know what, when and how God has this story unfolding for us - I want the invisible ink to be revealed, and that is my prayer as we head into our second week in Moshi.

Just Another Day in Africa (in cell phone pictures)

The power went out around 2am as we slept soundly in our beds.  The fans slowly trilled to a stop and the air became still and hot.  I woke immediately, now extremely aware of the crickets chirping, the guard dogs walking around, and the other insects making their symphony of the wee hours.  I prayed for God to use his power to restore the power because yesterday when this happened at 7am, Owen woke immediately.  This morning, though, O stayed asleep, though restless, he was still sleeping.

When morning came we un-stuck ourselves from the bedsheets and rose, ready to get out of our stuffy bedroom.  No power (again) meant no toast or oatmeal for breakfast so we improvised with a cereal bar we'd brought from home, some raisins and a fruit/veggie pouch for O.  Bill had some cereal and I had a cliff bar we'd brought.  (You can only get cow's milk here and since dairy & I don't quite get along, I don't do cereal here.)

After breakfast we got dressed and ready to head over to the Loudermilk's house.  Brian & Mandee just got here (the day before us, actually) with their four children (all under 6yrs.).  They, however, are here permanently now.  They've been called to Africa to help the Street family with the House of Hope and are just getting settled in here.  They've got a house but it is not ready to be lived in yet, so they're staying in the guest house of the Street's while they work on theirs.  Anyway, we went over there to move some furniture, take down the curtains and watch the fundi (worker) take down a wall.

Around noon it was time to pick (most of) the kids up from school, so O & I got dropped off at the house while Mary & Mandee went to do that.  I made O some leftover sausage (think bratworst, but way better and less greasy) and made myself a ham sandwich (which O ate about 1/4 of).  After lunch it was time for nap.

When nap time was over we (our family) headed into town with Mary to get some things for the apartment we'll be moving into this weekend.

Then we stopped and picked up the oldest Loudermilk kid from school (he's the only one that attends full-day), dropped him by the house, and went to the apartment to drop off the things we'd bought.  I snapped some pics while we were there, and we checked out the progress on the restaurant side before heading back home.

Once home it O wanted to "see turtles?" (go outside and find the tortoises) so we headed out back.  He found the biggest one and wanted me to take his picture by it.

 And then he forgot to actually look at the camera... so we tried again.

 Don't worry, he's not falling, he was just fidgeting :)

Then he wanted to swing.

Then he found a stick and wanted to draw pictures in the dirt and bang it on the ground. (all boy)

After a little while we came in.  Dinner was scrambled eggs, banana bread and pineapple for O, then it was bath time.  We let him play for a few minutes after bath and the toy he chose was the vacuum (surprise surprise).  He also likes playing with the phone we got for while we're here and asked for that while he was vacuuming.  He was walking around vacuuming and having a conversation on the phone, and I looked up to see this:

I guess he needed to rest his weary legs.  Silly boy.

And then it was bed time.  Bill & I took our showers just as the power (finally) came back on, and before this I was doing some light reading of "Simplified Swahili" while Bill flipped through some books on Kili and Tanzania.

And that's a typical day in Moshi for us.  A little time at home, a little running around, a little more time at home and a quiet evening once the kids are in bed.