Fall Fun Festival

Dusty and the kids with the firetruck at our church's festival. The kids had a blast in the bouncing house, on the giant slide, playing games for candy, and petting the animals in the petting zoo, especially the "zony" - half pony and half zebra.

The kids and me at our playgroup, which we love! Tessa misses her buddies in Tanzania, but she loves her new friends here too. Tessa is infatuated with the whole princess thing, so she didn't even think about any other costume.



The pumpkin we carved at our house in 10 minutes. Jack didn't even complain about wearing his hand-me-down costume, which really surprised us. Tessa earned her wand by having dry underwear during naps!

Recent Photos

1. Dusty's Birthday brownies


2. The kids at the Arboretum


3. Wearing our cowboy boots to Marsh Lane Baptist Church's western-themed missions conference


4. Fall fun at the Arboretum

Life of Luxury

Ok, this is not to make our friends in America feel guilty, but I do want to comment on what I am considering to be luxurious about life here.
1. Hot or cold, clean, drinkable water from the tap.
2. Easy driving conditions: not having to be hyper-alert for animals, children, adults, loaded carts, cyclists, and other vehicles who are about to jump in front of our car at any moment.
3. Cooking and preparing meals with anything and everything easily at my fingertips. This weekend it was delicious vanilla yogurt with fresh strawberries.
4. Playgrounds and libraries - a culture that caters to children.
5. Actual changing of the seasons - this morning I saw my breath for the first time in three and a half years!
6. Dependable plumbing and electricity.
7. Grandparents close by who are happy to babysit their adorable grandkids.
8. Church nursery which is safe and enjoyable and educational.
9. Being able to understand EVERYTHING anyone says to me, and everyone understands everything I'm saying.
10. A dishwasher!

And the list goes on, but these are on the top of my head. On the downside, life here is jam-packed busy, and our kids have caught every last American cough, cold, and fever, but otherwise we are doing great and are enjoying the life of luxury.

Back in the USA

A friend recently emailed me assuming we were not yet in the States because I had not updated the blog. I told her that's because there are so many entertaining things to do here and people to see that I hadn't even thought of the blog. Plus I haven't figured out how to get the photos off the camera and onto this laptop.

Regardless, we're having a great time here. Dusty's already finished his first course in school, in which he was a teaching assistant. I think grading papers gave him a whole new perspective on schoolwork for his other classes starting next week. The kids are having a blast in the pool at our house and at local playgrounds and libraries. I enjoyed shopping for some new clothes with birthday money while Mom watched the kids. And we're all loving hanging out with family and friends.

Highlights have included: peaches, strawberries, blueberries, grapes, yogurt, turkey, boneless skinless chicken breasts, and all the other fantastic food we can't get in TZ. Jack's new word is "a-ay" which is "airplane" without the consonants - he gets lots of daily practice with all the airplanes zooming overhead. Tessa mistook two gold glass high-rise office buildings for sand-castles.

I'm writing from Denver where we're having a short trip, so Dusty's highlight is going to the Rockies game tonight with buddies. And my personal highlight was getting over carsickness in the Mt. Evans' parking lot to hike the remaining way up to the top of the 14,000 foot mountain... while carrying Jack... in the snow... in FLIP FLOPS... and not falling!!! Let's just call it Supermom (otherwise known as poor planning). Fun times. - photos later.

Walking and Reading

Jack began walking about 3 weeks ago on his 17 month birthday. It took him a long time to walk, but he got the hang of it fast. So fast that he is now comfortable wearing these wellies which are significantly larger than his feet. He kept trying to wear Tessa's frog wellies, so I pulled out thes old ones of Tessa.

He's also a book abuser. No, he doesn't abuse books; he abuses the person that he wants to read the book to him. He approaches Dusty or me and tries nicely to give us the book and sit on us. If we are otherwise occupied, then he will hit us with the book and start hollering and crying, until we cave or run away. If we read, then he's so happy, but if we leave, a real tantrum begins even if the hitting stops. Today he hit Tessa in the face with a book - ouch! But what can I say? He's a librarian's son.

Mary and Joseph Confusion

We live on a Catholic compound here in Musoma. They recently built a sort of grotto thing to hold a statue of Mary, painted it pink, and surrounded it with potted plants, flags, and colored lights. It's quite bold to say the least, but fortunately the pink has faded. Tessa is enamoured with Mary, and we must greet her every time we come in the compound if Tessa's with us ... "Hi Mary!"

Ironically, the gatekeeper is named Joseph. Tessa, who has never seen the classic Disney movies, recently received a coloring book with Cinderella, Beauty, Jasmine, and some other heroines with their beaus. She thinks they are Mary and Joseph. Apparently all the Biblical Christmas stories she was so familiar with in December have now been replaced with the "Mary statue - Joseph gatekeepr - Disney" combo. I'll have to think of some fun Biblical lesson to get her back on track.

Thoughts of a Family Dog

His finger's in my eye. Her bouncing bottom is crushing my lungs. They're so loud, and he has some serious stinking poop in his trousers. When will the big people tell them to leave me alone? How long do I have to take this? Don't these little people know I'm a scary Rottweiler?

Ah well, it's all worth it if I can just reach the cookie the little guy left under the dresser two days ago.

Last Day of School

Here on our compound we have a small Catholic school. On Friday, we heard drum beating and singing, so Tessa and I set out to see what all the hub-bub was about. 1 minute later we had to return to the house for our umbrellas. When we arrived we saw the field had been cleared so the many kids could march out and put on a show for some visiting educational dignitaries and a smattering of parents. This meant that the kids were standing at attention, singing their songs, and doing their daily exercise routine while standing in the rain. I felt so sorry for them as I watched them stand there shivering with beads of rain rolling off their heads - and they just stood and took it! No screaming or running or complaining like I would expect of American kids.

Kids here have some bizarre stoic ability to sit (or stand in this case)quietly through anything. But this is the first time I've seen them do it in the rain. Children, even young ones, can sit quietly through a 2 - 3 hour church service, all lined up on the front bench with their parents somewhere behind them, and rarely will we see a kid get in trouble or toted out. We've heard 2 reasons for this. 1) They are disciplined frequently and severely at home. 2) They are undernourished and simply don't have the energy to misbehave.

I think it must be a lesser combination of the two. I think additionally, entertainment is rare here, so they're happy to watch or be involved in almost anything. Plus they are next to siblings who can pinch them or whatever to make them behave. Finally, the little ones are nursed a long, long time so when one of them fusses, Mom just opens her shirt, and voila! - a quiet youngster.

Whatever the reason, quiet kids in a service are something to admire as our own kids wriggle, giggle, cry, fuss, and complain. I'll be thankful for the church nursery and Sunday school to take our kids off our hands when we come home so we can worship in peace, and so they can have a good worship time too.

Juvenile Scissor Phobia

Jack at left, at 16 months: "No, no! Not the scissors! Not the curls! Torture, torture. Won't someone, anyone, help me? Aargh!"



Jack below, 10 minutes later: "Oh, well, hee hee. I guess I overreacted just a little. Thanks Mama."

Me: "oh no! Oh dear! Where's my baby boy? Who are you? What have I done?"

The Face of Translation

I just thought you might enjoy seeing some of the people who are helping us walk the long road of Bible translation. These four are among many who have helped in our project with building orthographies (alphabets) for 8 language groups here. All are busy people with many other demands on their time, but they were all happy to come and work on their languages so that one day they will see the Scriptures in their own mother tongues.

Can you imagine...
.. not having the Bible in English?

.. praying in your second language because no one told you that you could pray in English?

.. not knowing how to read?

.. never having read anything in English because it was not yet written?

.. not having any Bibles or other books in your house?

.. going to church but worshipping in your second (or third) language?

.. never having understood that Jesus loves and died for you?

Frankly, I can't really imagine these things, but after living here, I know that there are so very many countless Tanzanians (and others around the world) for whom these statements are true.

We are so very grateful to be a part of this awesome task. We're also thankful to have seen all that the Lord has been doing here in Musoma since we arrived. We are encouraged by the great faith and dedication of those who are working alongside of us, like the people whose pictures you see here. And we're thankful that you are a vital part of this ministry through your constant prayer, encouragement and support. We look forward to seeing you soon on the other side of the ocean!

Furlough Pros and Cons

We're coming home for furlough in July. Here are the pros and cons (or what I'm looking forward to and what I'm dreading).
PROS:
1. Family, friends and my dog
2. Worship in English at our home churches
3. Restaurants, movies, babysitters, grocery stores
4. Places to go, people to see, food to eat
5. Cold weather, and cold Christmas at home
6. Playgrounds and all things especially geared to kids
7. No mosquito nets
8. Libraries
9. Constant water and electricity

CONS:
1. Traffic and gas prices (cheaper gas but more driving in the States)
2. Expensive produce that's not even that fresh
3. 8 hour jet lag with 2 children after 4 flights - yikes!!
4. Changing diapers on a kid with multiple layers
5. Layering clothing on kids who barely even know about socks
6. Busy, busy, busy American life
7. Well, I can't think of any more cons. Maybe that's because we're so ready to come back to the States that Dusty mutters Chipotle, Chipotle, Chipotle even in his sleep! :)

Birthday Insanity

Tessa turned 3 on March 18th. On Good Friday, we celebrated her birthday with our neighbor Micaiah who also turned 3 that day. We had 21 kids and 21 adults here at our house for the swimming party and NO WATER! That's right folks; the water was off till Tuesday night. That's 5 dry days with guests for dinner on Easter. Fortunately we have external tanks we used for the baby pools and filled buckets of rain water for bathing, toilets, and dishes. Whew! In addition to water issues, the kumbi-kumbi hit the night before the party. These are bugs attracted to light who shed their wings and crawl under the door leaving behind them masses of wings. The kids were in and out of the pools and every foot dragged wings back into the pool with them, so it was quite a mess, but they didn't care and the adults pretended they didn't either.

Here's the classic screaming kid photo - Josiah was then replaced by his baby brother who also cried for later photos. We're so blessed to have so many missionary kids in our community - it's amazing really. All are 7 and under, but most are younger than 4. Anybody out there want to come over and help us teach them? Please, please?! Seriously, we would love to know if God puts it on your heart to share this opportunity with someone who loves kids and wants to come to Africa for a while. Please pray for a short or long-term teacher for our kids. We want to start a co-op school soon, and just look at all these precious faces waiting to learn fractions!!

Easter Bunnies

Tessa's pink Easter dress this year came from mtumba (the used clothing market) here in Musoma. It is 100% silk, was probably a flower-girl dress once, and we bought it for less than $5.00 for a dress-up princess birthday party that she attended in January. We hunt the mtumba for upholstery/curtain fabric, fitted sheets, clothes, shoes, and other random items. You might remember the huge America flag I bought there? Jack doesn't have dress-up clothes, and guess what? He doesn't care and neither does anyone else! Of course here, any piece of clothing without rips and stains is pretty much dress-up anyway.

The Easter package from my mom arrived a few days late, so we had the Easter egg hunt the Saturday after Easter - it just made the holiday seem longer. Thursday before Easter was a Muslim holiday, and Good Friday and Easter Monday are national holidays here too, so we all enjoyed our 5 days off. I think Easter is a bigger holiday here than Christmas is. Churches have services every day starting Thursday. It's nice to be in a place that has never heard of the Easter Bunny, and where God has all the glory. Not that we don't appreciate a little Easter chocolate of course.

South Africa Vacation

Here's a few snapshots of our vacation in Cape Town, South Africa earlier this month. It was a beautiful place with great weather and so much to see and do. It was great for us to feel that we were no different from anyone else, and Cape Town is so "western" that we had almost no culture stress. In many ways, it felt like being back in the States. We could even drink water from the taps - a real luxury! We loved the aquarium, play grounds, restaurants, shopping, Dutch colonial architecture, and the concert in the botanical gardens. It was truly a great vacation even if it took us 2 days to get there.

Here we are on the top of Table Mountain, where we all got sunburned but still had fun taking the cable car up the mountain and hiking around.

Look closely: did you know there are penguins in Africa? I sure didn't. There is even a beach where you can swim with them, and although we didn't get to go down we could watch folks tanning and playing on the beach alongside the penguins. I never thought I would see people in swimming suits hanging out cordially with penguins. On the ferry to Robben Island, I also saw some floating on top of the water, kind of like ducks.

Here we are at Robben Island Prison, in the cell across the hall where Nelson Mandela was held as a political prisoner for 18 years. Jack looks pretty happy here, but he tossed his cookies on the ferry on the way home. He's genetically inclined toward motion sickness thanks to my mom. Otherwise it was a good and eye-opening morning, and gave us an appreciation for our freedom regardless of our beliefs.

Home Security and Tummy Cheers

From these photos you can see the security gate and screen on our front door. It protects us from possible intruders, but also from mosquitoes, our bigger concern. No expat lives here without a massive keychain for the various locks around a home - for instance, we have 3 locks just for this door. All our windows have bars and screens on them. We don't even notice them anymore. The other security device we have is our tiny Rottweiler, Ellie, full grown at 50 pounds. Black dogs here are more feared than others, and we've heard it is because of the belief of black being evil. She's hardly evil, but does put up a good bark which is enough to scare the mightiest foes, even though they may only be wandering cats or goats.

I think all 3 in this photo are watching Dusty work on his piki-piki (motorbike). Jack, on this particular evening was so filthy after dinner that I removed his shirt, whereupon Tessa insisted on removing hers as well and then running over to Jack for "tummy cheers." Picture fraternity boys doing the belly bump, but on a toddler scale. Jack was clueless, but still thought it was funny, and I couldn't resist snapping a photo of them afterwards watching their Daddy at the door.

The next day they got to help him work on the piki-piki and play with the tools. Yes, Jack is indeed teething on a bisi-bisi (screwdriver). What a stud! Who needs baby toys when you can chew on tools?

Backyard Produce

Our yard has been very productive with passion fruit, bananas, avocados, and guavas while the neighbors can add lemons, tangerines, and oranges. Never having lived in CA or FL, this seems like a minor miracle - having fruit in our yard just dropping out of trees. The passion fruit are so high up in our trees that they sound like bombs dropping on our tin roof. One hit the other day during nap time, and from Tessa's room, I heard a startled "Oh! ha ha ha." We give away what we can't eat, which is also a nice benefit. By the way, avocados here are considered fruit, so we're no longer surprised to see them served in a fruit salad or sliced along with papaya and pineapple served at breakfast.

Workshop Finale

Photos: Dusty's speech, using the Swahili Bible. The kids outside the church who were chanting "wazungu" (white people) when we drove up. The inside of the church where the celebration was held.

The Orthography II workshop ended on Friday with a celebration of everyone's hard work. Several of the leaders gave speeches. All the wazungu were amazed when the guest of honor gave a lengthy comparison of the participants to breasts full of nourishing milk! Everyone else just nodded their heads in serious agreement. The point he was making was that the participants had done great work to lay the foundation for Scripture the same way that breast milk is essential for a child to grow. In this culture, breasts are just a very normal every-day part of life - but, gosh, that sure is different in the Western culture, isn't it?

Dusty gave a strong speech in Swahili, and a participant from each of the languages read a story. Each language group wrote a story for the first time in their mother tongue, which is pretty amazing for everyone. It was a privelege to hear them read the stories even though we couldn't understand them till they retold them in Swahili. They were clearly proud of their achievement and looking forward to sharing the stories with others upon their return home. We're thankful we get to be a part of this ground-breaking work, and it's always exciting to have a small part of the project completed.

Atrarat

The focus of our month here in the Hill House has been
getting rid of MICE. The mouse that wasn't stirring the night before
Christmas apparently had babies who have been scurrying around our
kitchen and bedroom leaving the fragrance and sight of mouse pee/poop
in their wake. Last night through my pillow I even heard one scratching
under our bed.

So after failed attempts with three kinds of
poison and a handmade mousetrap, a 12 year old shop keeper offered
mouse "glue" named Atrarat (how do you say that?) made in Italy. The
other side of the box is written in Arabic, as are MANY items sold
here, so I doubt this stuff makes it into many Italian restaurant
kitchens. Although we did get a gecko and a few bugs stuck in the glue,
we scored no mice. Have no fear: my hunter husband sent one to his
maker last night and another tonight. He dispatched the first by
slamming it between the dog's crate and the wall, and the second met
its fate from Dusty's moccasin. Three cheers for Dusty! Or at least two.

Daddy, I Cut My Hair!

Well, Tessa has gone and done it: she's finally had her very first haircut! The problem is that she did it herself. I had just cut Dusty's hair, and while he was cleaning up and I was working on a sewing project, Tessa found the scissors all alone and decided to put them to good use. She just lopped off a couple of locks of hair from the top of her head and a few from the front. Hair was everwhere, but now it's safely in a Ziplock bag in her baby book. Fortunately she doesn't look too bizarre, unless you're looking closely, but her hairstyles are now a bit more limited. It could definitely be worse, and she was pretty darn proud of herself. It was a hard call between laughing at her (thus condoning her actions) and scolding her. In the end, my parting comment was "stay away from your brother!"

Bizarre Produce

OK, so the potato, garlic, and tomato are perfectly normal, but how about the carrot and banana(s)? I don't remember ever seeing produce like this in America, but here we see these types of things all the time. Of course, they are so inspiring that sometimes we just have to get creative and have some fun, so here are our two little friends, Mr. Tango Potato Head and Mrs. Twirling Banana Legs. Next time you see these two for sale at Kroger, let us know: they will have traveled a long, long way!

Bible Thumping

We experienced the Tanzanian rendition of Bible Thumping at church on
Sunday. What else would you do if you got to church and did not have a
drum? The boy in front of us just banged on his Bible with his hand to
keep the beat as everyone else clapped. He did a good job making a
joyful noise to the Lord, and it sounded pretty good to me too. Even
Tessa thought so because she grabbed her own Bible and tried smacking
it a couple of times. Our church is very small and rarely has musical accompaniment, which is generally a good thing here since those churches with keyboards turn up the volume very loud! We like the normal acapello style of our church here. It seems that folks here are born with the ability to harmonize so the singing is always great.