January Rolls On

Here's 5 of the 7 fair maidens...watching the valiant men

jump themselves silly. Don't worry, they got their turn next.

Hunter has been surging forward in her school; it's so fun to be surprised when she picks up a book and just reads out the lines...with inflection and enthusiasm and punctuation.

We split up to divide and conquer when going to the capitol city last week. Hunter finally wore out and asked to stay in the car, I walked away with one sister, leaving Justin to lock her up. When I returned first, I noticed a suspicious quietness coming from the engine. Hunter unlocked her door, red and sweaty, and handed me this note. It reads: Dad, I hav a het rash and u, left, me in the; kr, with it, off. I cracked up! Love all the punctuation too.

She also has nearly mastered her 2 wheeler! This is Mr. Chris taking her out for a jog down the road. They leave the day after tomorrow, sadly. We'll miss you!

In other news, we have welcomed another niece into the world! Adding the precious girls whose births we have missed up to four. THIS is one of my biggest sacrifices living here. Please pray with us for our new niece who was born 5 weeks early. Pray for her breathing and heart to be strong and healthy, and for her mama to recover quickly, rest enough, and have peace as she waits for her little girl to come home.

Thanks for all your love and prayers! Keep it up!

Random Pictures, Random Thoughts

I so often think of things I need to blog about, or have forgotten, or some new, funny thing the girls have done. So, since Justin and Chris took the 4 big girls shopping in the nearby bigger town, the baby is sleeping, and Braelyn is watching Letter Factory, here goes.

Our current for a few more hours Roomies are British, which has been fun and often funny. Last night Esme asked me about 5 times to take her necklace off (after Hunter had asked me the same thing) only to finally realize she was asking me to take her knickers off! Here's some verbal discrepancies:

girl's underwear...knickers

boy's underwear...pants

pants...trousers

pacifier...dummy

diapers...nappies

car trunk...boot

jello...jelly

jelly...jam

spanking...smack

go pee...have a wee

In other news, this has been the BEST hot season. I know we are mid-way through, which is a dangerous time to be making such a claim, but really. The Kaskazi winds arrived, which according to a fellow islander blogger, are the trade winds which used to bring trade ships south and west from the Arabic nations up north and east. In a few more months, they will switch with the wind blowing back up their way, but for now, Kaskazi is my new favorite word.

Some days I can hardly get the laundry down off the line it's blowing so hard into my face. We spend nearly every evening sitting out on the porches with our hair and skirts whipping around, goose bumps forming on our arms from the sudden freeze brought on by wind blasting through sweaty clothes. It's awesome. Where have you been my first 2 years, Kaskazi?

What else...oh Braelyn. Her speaking is continuing to come along slowly and I'm not sure if it's that or something else, but she sure spends a lot of her day in frustrated tears. Which sometimes brings on mine as well, but that's another story. What is kind of funny is that she has picked up on "Why, mom?" Only her tone and inflection are so precious. I've never known that that phrase could be endearing instead of annoying. And she asks the question at the funniest times. I'll say, be quiet, your sister is sleeping. She'll ask, "why, mom?" and I'll reply...because your sister is sleeping. Usually she then nods knowingly and says, oh.

Her other most frequent phrase is, "Wuh dat, mom?" She also has such a sensitive heart. She is quick to "ohhh, sawwy, it huwt?" if someone gets hurt. Then comes, "I tiss it?" She'll cock her head, eyes sad, hands hovering protectively and lean in to land a gentle kiss on the injury. Then ask, "you tay?" So sweet! When she's not crying that is. But that's that other story.

Hunter and Avery continue to thrive and grow and learn and love and play with others well. School is slated to re-convene in the morning following our 6 week Christmas break due to lots of factors. We'll see how it goes!

Oh yeah! Thank you to everyone who was a part of our Christmas Video at Church! It was awesome, bringing both laughter and tears! What a WONDERFUL surprise! THANK YOU for your love and prayers and sweet winter wishes!

Lots of Little Fun

The fun and noise grew when our team-mates returned from Christmas in Kenya. Us adults had to move to the living room to find someplace to eat.

The drive to the beach was quite a wild ride, especially with Lilee crammed in too.

Then came Sunday School dancing

and a long-awaited Princess Party complete with pink sheet table cloth, red fruit punch, candles on the table (thanks for the AMAZING package friends!) cupcakes,

and Miss Sandy brought pink glitter crowned topped bags of Boom Boom corn...another successful (aka yummy) day on our little Island!

We'll be sad to see these new friends go in a few days, but good news: they're just going to spend some time at the A's house to see another facet of life here!

January News

Hello everyone! Sorry for the silence, as usual. I should just quit apologizing, huh? This month/year has started off to a phenomenal bang with some really cool visitors. This family even has us tied with 3 girls of their own.

Our neighbors had a big party and invited us ladies. It turned out that my precious 7 year old Abduli (from my English skuli) was being shipped off to boarding school and they were having a farewell party for him and his older brother, returning to school.

It was pretty cool. Lots of music, dancing, and sparkle.

This is little Mariam our neighbor baby, grand-daughter of Mariam there behind her, wife of our night guard Ali.

This old Mama is the aunt of the father of Abduli and I thought it was so sweet how her daughter was helping her re-wrap up.

We headed home for mac and cheese before they pulled out the goat, but they were kind enough to bring some over after the party ended. We really enjoyed our time getting closer to and celebrating with our friends as these relationships grow deeper. Please pray that our lights shine brightly in this place!