Six more irresistable family photos plus a quiz photo at the end

Tessa looking cute in Jack's circle of trains


The station master surrounded by those he loves


Ok, before any of you pitch a fit be informed that Dusty only takes the kids for slow rides around the small loop in our compound, which is a private dirt road. Even I find no harm in it, and they love it! He does insist on them wearing "protective" eye gear and footwear.


Dusty uses his "piki piki" for going to the office as it uses far less fuel than the truck (recall our fuel prices are astronomically higher than in the States). He also uses it to stimulate his mind and talents as it seems to always be begging for a repair or two, or three...


Waiting for a ride on the piki piki all geared out


After her turn on the piki piki, Tessa said, "Thanks for the ride, Pop!" We have no idea how she decided to call Dusty "Pop," but it was as cute as she is!


The QUIZ photo: Anyone who can tell me what type of lily this is will win an all expense unpaid trip to Musoma, Tanzania, a glass of fresh lemonade here on our back porch, and a lily bulb to take back through customs. The lilies have a very sweet and strong fragrance, and the leaves are broad and flat and grow up to 4 feet high. Each stalk can produce up to 12 flowers. Any guesses??

Some photos of where we live and work

This is a view of the Lake with our roof visible (barely). If you can spot the round building near the center, then look just to its right, you will see two roofs. Ours is the one in the back. From our house, we actually have a great view of the lake, and you're welcome to come see it anytime!


Musoma has tons of these rock outcroppings; they're very common around Lake Victoria. I recently discovered this one near our home and scrambled up it with our dog, Ellie. It's a great place to hang out because the tree gives shade on the top, the rock is flat at the top, it has a great view, and there are monkeys and rock hyraxes!


Dusty is currently the construction manager for our new office building. This is the plot of land where, God willing, we will be building the new translation office.


Dusty in his office talking to a friend of ours from church. This is the mission control center! Well, it is for Dusty anyway, and for operations, construction, and linguistics. All hands on deck!


Finally, here is a shot of the newly renovated administration building, and the linguistics building to its right, where Dusty's office is. Renovating and building are difficult anywhere in the world, but here we have many challenges. Dusty somehow manages to use his skills, education, engineering experience, and Swahili to rise to meet them all. When he leaves the house to go to the office, I frequently tell him, "Go build the kingdom one brick at a time!" And he does. Other days I say, "Have fun storming the castle!" which you Princess Bride fans will appreciate.

What We're Doing These Days in Photos

The disclaimer is that we had to downsize the photos significantly in order to upload them, so my apologies for the poor quality.


Tanzania has gone Obama-crazy. Can you tell what this is? While walking down the street, Dusty saw this box of bubblegum. Do you think this product was officially sanctioned by the Obama Administration? We see his face everywhere, on all kinds of products and vehicles. Popular guy in these here parts! We'll keep an eye out for other funny items.


One thing we do around here is fix stuff. Including vehicles. Even the kids get in on the action. You can never start them too early, right?


We like a little teamwork. Sharing is Caring. Solving puzzles together. Fixin' flats.


Nothing like a little grease under the nails, eh? A working man's hands look good paired with wooden Dutch shoes. Oh yeah.


With some spare time, Dusty likes to take out his bow and arrows and practice in the backyard. Here he's teaching a friend the ropes. Don't worry - we keep the kids far from the line of sight. And the dog too. But if a screeching ibis got in the way? Well, we wouldn't be shedding any tears about that.


When it's not rainy season, we like to pretend that it is. Or is this a fairy hiding under a toadstool?


Goggles really do make running through the sprinkler much more fun. Even when they're so fogged up you can't see anything - maybe that's where the fun is!


Dusty exchanges high-fives at a church dinner. The kids love engaging with us and learning about us. And following us, and touching us, and staring at us, and asking us questions...


How cute are these kiddos? They love seeing their image on the camera display after I take a picture. It's easy to draw a crowd of kids with a digital camera. Behind the kids you can see the way the Tanzanians cook. It was a pretty good church dinner of beans, rice, goat meat (I passed), and greens. Unfortunately there were no spoons or forks, so this was the first time we ever tried to eat rice with our fingers. We were a little messy, but our kids thought it was fun, and it was!


Can you guess which ones are ours? That is our new church building behind the kids.


Happy Birthday to Dusty! Someone recently told me that she recalled me to be a maker of "pretty cakes." I quickly reminded her of this winner (and yes, this is the final product before it had been cut), which required slicing off all the burned parts before I poured on the glaze. Regardless, it was still tasty, even with all those candles on it. :)


Tessa has learned how to do things the Tanzanian way. Here she's washing her doll's clothes. It was a dull day, so I filled the bathtub (yes, that's our bathtub) with water and soap, gave her a tutorial, and let her have some good clean fun.


Jack, on the other hand, is not so good at "good clean fun." On this day we went down to visit some friends who live near a beach. I greased him up with sunscreen, which acted like a magnet between a boy and dirty sand. This is one of Jack's classic expressions.


And finally, here's what I like to do with a little paint and the kids' naptime. This bulletin board used to be a dart board, and the wall looked pretty sad with all the chunks taken out by stray darts. This was my solution to hiding the holes. AND, if you send us your Christmas cards this year, we'll get to look at your gorgeous faces all of 2010! Here's our address so you're officially without excuse.

Dusty and Kim Hill
Box 1235
Musoma
Tanzania