Karibu Tena

Ahh, the house is quite once again. These last week and a half has been full of visiting, eating, sharing stories, cultural learning, laughter, sharing of everything and pre Christmas joy.

On December 1, our household grew to 6. Mary’s two children (Waren 3, Caren 5), her sister (Beatrice 19) and her cousin (Penda 20) came for a visit. It changed the dynamics of everything! Having two little kids around the house was a gentle foreshadowing of what is to come. Having the two other girls was a lot of fun for me to work on my cooking skills (they are good teachers) and language skills, not to mention just trying to talk to or work with the two little ones.

It was a good visit in that it helped me realize all that I need to be working on for when our children come home next year. For example what kind of house rules need to be set up, when bed time is, what to eat to be healthy, how to keep the culture yet maintain health and proper discipline. Like I said, it was good for me to start thinking about these things. Now more than ever I’m getting excited to bring home our kids! These next few weeks I’m going to be busy with planning, checking up on paperwork with our lawyers/government and visiting potential children. Not to mention Christmas prep J

So with our household of 6 we grew again this last Wednesday, December 7. Two guys from Southern Adventist University’s SM program were on a bit of a holiday driving from Lake Victoria, the site of their future orphanage with REACH International to the coast with two local friends. We had mutual friends and were put in contact with me to visit. I love having people over and told them the more the merrier. I hope they were merry. We unfortunately didn’t have much more bedding space left with Mary’s family here but we did our best. In our two-room house we had 10 people! Wowzers, is this a peak at the future or what! Mary’s room held her and the two kids, mine had Penda, Beatrice and me on my bed (that fits two comfortably) and the 4 guys bunkered down in the living room on Mary’s big mattress. I felt bad because I couldn’t give them a mosquito net and I’m afraid it might have been a bit rough for them at night!

It was great to visit with them and learn about the work they were doing. I’m hoping to visit them the first of next year to see how they made their sun oven and see if I can learn anything else from them. Plus, it’s nice to visit people from your home country especially when they live on Lake Victoria.

Over the 4 days they were here our water ran low in the well and the guys learned how to carry water long distances. The food was a mix of American and Tanzanian, the language was a cross of Kiswahili and English and our ears were always full of music.

Next up is Christmas with people visiting local SM’s who I can’t wait to have over too!

Karibu Tena