Shannon's week at a glance

Ups and downs, highs and lows, here's a few: Justin mentioned to a good neighbor friend that he was planning on starting a small chicken farm and was working on a chicken feed from local food. Well, the next day he brought over 3 hens for eggs! So far we think one is laying...occasionally. Justin is building a rockin' coop, with less than rockin' materials, but we make the best of what we've got.
We brought home some Kikkoman soy sauce from Mombasa and have been having amazing vegatable fried rice. Tonight will be number 3 this week. It won't last long at this rate!
Oh yeah, I turned 30. Haven't decided which list this falls into, but the cupcakes were yummy. Last and still freshly painful, I got arrested. No cuffs cause those have long since been sold on the black market I'm sure, but I AND MY THREE CHILDREN were dragged into the police station and yelled at for a while till I closed up and said I wanted a man to come to speak for me. Thank you Lord, we have a team leader who is fluent and familiar with the system as well as a local friend who is one who will be heard. The story is kind of long, but the short of it is that when we shipped a vehicle over from Zanzibar they switched one of two of our license plates and so they don't match. Anyways, I am home and fine and the adrenaline is starting to wear off. Our car is grounded till we fix the problem, but I walk a free woman. Angry but free. Oh well, welcome to corruption and I'm glad my first time is over with!

Justin leaves again for the big island tomorrow to meet with the higher ups in the government to try and push his water desalination project through. He is working on a machine that can pump ocean water through it and change it to clean drinking water for smaller islands and remote areas around our island. And it uses only solar and wind power to run. I will let him tell more about this later. Thanks for your prayers!

First Haircut

It's getting a little crowded at bath time...my girls are getting so big.
Braelyn even qualified for her first hair cut. It wasn't much, but always worth documenting.
These are the fallen wisps of mullet she is no longer sporting.
She's looking up in this picture so it's not really this long, but you have to have an after, right? Her words continue to trickle in. She's attempting Mimi (finally, hooray!) and ME! (for those moments when I say, "who wants candy?") and please which also comes out as NI! Not too much variety, but it's coming along!

Back on the Farm

Who would have thought? Yesterday my weekly pre-teen guests stopped in, but this time they stopped giggling and running away long enough to stay and play. We drew on the driveway with chalk. They played keep-away with a beach ball.
And they attemted a giant princess puzzle. Wow. Can you fathom never having seen a puzzle? Not understanding how to put a face piece ABOVE the chest? Trying desperately to force a skirt piece into the sky hole just cause it's blue? These are normal, bright girls, who just haven't seen more than the fields they run through each day. Maybe someday...Lord, how can I help them?Speaking of bright girls, somebody finished her Kindergarten Phonics curriculum!
I know, 2 months is insane. In the past 3 years of very poor home-schooling, apparently I did teach her something worthwhile. So today she started her first First Grade Book and loved it. She's so proud. It takes about twice as long now, and that's a bit much, so we are all re-working life to figure out how to make it work.
Avery weasled her way into school today too. She's been asking me when, oh when can she learn how to read too. So today she got to start the first Kindergarten book. She told Justin it was "easy-peasy, lemon-squeazy". Meanwhile, Braelyn grabbed whatever book she could get her hands on, and wiggled into my lap every time I thought she was occupied. Ah me. Good thing we have all day...every day...for the rest of our lives...

Civ-il-i-zation!

It's funny to us that the place it took months to feel like we could survive in has become such an outstanding vacation spot! We have thoroughly enjoyed our days in Mombasa and will be sad to see grocery stores and date nights recede into history once more.But in the meantime...

we will swing our hearts out,

swim till we can't swim no more,

bask in the glory of sunny smiles,

revel in the uniqueness of the coast,

and eat as much ice cream as is humanly possible! We head back home on Friday, leaving Ginger on the big island on our way. What a joy she has been to us! What a joy for the blessing of stepping back into modernity for a week! Our hearts are full of too many blessings to name. Please pray for safety as we head home and for peace and joy to accompany that homecoming!

Tangawizi

Here we often cook with fresh ginger root. It's called tangawizi. A fun word, but an even funner person!Our friend Ginger from back home has come for a look-see and it's been wonderful! For me, hopefully for her too. This week she has been putting on a one-woman VBS program for the kids on our team...that's up to 7 kids 7 and under! Whew is right!
We have also gotten to share with her some of the sights of the island, we went visiting neighbors, shopping in the marketplace, and playing with some local kids who've taken to coming to play every day.
Next week we'll take her to Mombasa to check out the work with the street kids and then she'll spend some time with a different team nearby. I will certainly be sad to share her! But it's awesome to be able to show my new home to someone from my old home. And to see and hear what God is doing in another person's heart regarding his love of the lost!
Thanks for coming and BLESSING us, Tangawizi! And thanks to her family and friends for sharing her!

Oh my girls

Sweet Hunter is me in a little package sometimes. She has the most features from my side of the family by far. She loves arts and crafts more than any old school subject. And lately she's been organizing. On her own accord, she has completely emptied every shelf and toy box we own in order to stack memory cards and rubber band them, sort Critters from Ponies, and put the books facing the same way. Braelyn dumped out the box with our big-people games and so I just put the junked pile up high till I can deal with it. I can't tell you how many times she's eyed that pile and reached for it. Ah me.
Avery love has never been good at body part identification. Besides the fact that she's still missing her K and G sounds, so she is forever hurting her "antle", no matter which joint it may be. Yesterday I told her to go potty and she rubbed her tummy down low and said, "Yeah, my ribs have been rumbling!" She used to live on gum and hot cocoa (dum and totoa). But recently, she decided that chai is her new favorite (hot tea). This morning her first real words to me were, "Mom, tan you det me some toffee tate and chai? But I want it real." That means with milk in it like the Kenyans do. Don't know why that makes it real, but then again, she's 3...for a little while longer. Braelyn is potty trained! Not when she sleeps, but I've been spoiled by my first 2 who stayed dry by this age. Still, it's awesome that she's day potty trained at 18 1/2 months! She was really into it and needed no prompting from me. Except that she loves to poop outside. THAT I do try to discourage. Talking is another matter. Her words doubled the week after she got tubes in her ears and I was really encouraged. But they've definitely slowed down. Oh well, what does a third born need to talk for when her sisters hardly give her a chance anyways? Thus we just end up with a lot of yelled, "MOM!" Yes. She also quit calling me "Mama" and refers simply to me as "MOM!" In that tone of voice.
Sweet Angels, true gifts from heaven, how can I do right by you? God, give me patience and joy to raise these girls to love and follow you. Give me the strength to spend each day with them without going crazy.

High Point of My Day

This afternoon a few children were standing on the road watching us sit outside, playing Duplos and eating popcorn. I say, "jambo" and they came up to the fence, grinning ear to ear. Hunter went and opened the gate and says, "Njoo" (come in). Several times. She adds, "Cheza?" (Play?) Never losing their silly grins, they didn't move. So I came over and they ran back to the road. In my very best Kiswahili, I asked them to come play. By now there's about 10 kids. I asked if they wanted to come play. They said yes, but wouldn't come. So finally I told them to either come in and play or go home, but not to stand there and stare at us. Silly grins continue. I repeat, come in or go home, as simply and clearly as I can. Finally one little girl pipes up, "I don't understand white people language!" Argh!

I say, "Ah! I'm not speaking white people language, I'm speaking your language!" Alas, apparently I need more practice.

In other news, Justin has been traveling all over meeting the elders of different villages, Regional and District Commissioners, principals, laymen, politicians and other sorts. Really, that makes all sorts, doesn't it? He is working on getting drinking water into several areas that are completely without water for most or all of the year. Many areas have to bring boatloads or truckloads of fresh water from other parts of the island every day. Pray with us that he could be a bringer of water as well as Light for so many who need it.

Us girls are doing fine, meeting neighbors, studying lots and learning to love it here. Pray our shorter times out are filled with a Joy and Light that is undeniable and most desirable. We miss you all!