Ella Mary Rain

So I'm guessing everybody already knows about our BEAUTIFUL little daughter, Ella Mary Rain. She came along on March 11, 11:08 pm. Another surPRISE and emergency c-section. At least this time I didn't go through a full labor again. I was delighted to find out I had a little girl after coming out of the grog of drugs...I couldn't believe it. A tiny little 6 pound 3 oz bundle and absolutely perfect.

Now it's two months later, and Ella is almost 14 pounds. She's a hungry little one who is doing her best to keep up with her brothers already. Right now she's sleeping peacefully next to me in her car seat. I'm working a bit here at the Imara office. Tomorrow is our last day...that is another post.

But I just wanted to put up a couple pictures of the THREE kiddos...so much fun.

Hope to post more about what's been happening in our lives. We leave Africa in two weeks from TODAY and I can't even wrap my head around it....

My biggest regret is that we haven't put enough time into keeping in touch and keeping everyone informed on what's happening - this blog is a case in point. Our life here has been rich, full, difficult, awesome, amazing, bizarre, and meaningful. Wish I had shared more about all that. Will try to at least post a few more times just to reflect a bit on it all.

But now my girl is crying and I should really pay attention to her.

Until next time...peace.

Buses

(Aside #1: A couple of weeks ago I - Kurtis - was coming back from
dropping of a SALTer at their home stay and had an accident. Went off
the road right where there happened to be a small bridge and riverbed
so the car ended up on it's side. But with enough people, police and
of course money (!) it all got taken care of.)

Woke up yesterday to the sound of our neighbours praying ....

(Aside #2: Our church is having a seminar of some sort this week and
so some guests are staying next to us. Every day they "pray" from
10-11pm and then from 5 or 6 to 7am. No word of a lie, the first time
we heard them we thought they were mauling our dog, but I checked and
he was on the porch. So it must be another dog, so I went over to
check and no there was no dog, it was just people "praying". Anyway,
I could go on a theological rant at this point but I might end up
sounding like I'm also mauling a dog...)

... and realized it was 6:09am and the bus I wanted to take to Musoma
left at 6. Buses are the one thing that almost always leave EXACTLY
on time. So ran to town and grabbed a small van-$5 that took me to
Bunda where I grabbed another bus for Musoma-$3. Also grabbed a
yogurt-$1, biscuits-$.30 and peanuts-$.20 Got to Musoma at noon and
found out that the last bus (so I was told) left in half and hour so I
guess I was spending the night. Did my business: car insurance (see
Aside #1) and car parts. Got a plate of rice, fish and beans and a
soda-$2.50. Found out that the fundi (handiman) who was cutting some
replacement mirrors for me was already done AND that there was another
van going back to Mugumu so I was in luck!

So got a ticket back to Mugumu-$5 and somehow managed to sleep for
a few minutes on the very uncomfortable van ride. We had just gone
through the half way town to Mugumu when the bus careened off the side
of the road and came to a halt. (If there had been anything else but
a field by the side of the road or if we had been going any faster I
wouldn't be writing this.) We climbed out and yep, the front left
wheel had had enough of the van and decided to part ways, it was
sideways and jammed up inside the wheel well. The van guys
immediately set to work as if we'd be up and running within an hour
but the rest of us knew that van wasn't going anywhere for a while.
(I should have taken some queues about the quality of the van from the
fact that both the tout and the driver had to hold their doors closed
as they drove.)

So we called around (I didn't want to take too much of a lead as
the "mzungu") and eventually someone called a taxi from Mugumu and we
all agreed to chip in-$8. But he also asked that we start walking,
luckily no one had brought any huge luggage. So we, a troup of 2
women (1 pregnant), 1 toddler, and 5 guys, distributed the luggage and
walked for the next 2 hours or so.

I'm not good at illustrations but picture this group walking
through a very typical african setting of huts and scrub brush
shooting the breeze about the accident, previous accidents, cell
phones, wives using cell phones, whatever. At one point we came up on
a small hut selling some local drink so we all had some and they had a
good laugh at the mzungu drinking this stuff. After 2 hours the women
were tired and the car should really have arrived so we crashed
someone's "porch" and waited. (Remember that the nearest brick house
is a long way away, everything is mud and sticks.)

Turns out the rescue car had got a flat and when it finally arrived
just at dusk I realized it was striving to emulate the van we had left
behind. But it was our best option so the 7 of us and child plus the
driver piled into this tiny sedan and drove off. The drive home was
slow because the puncture was unrepairable so we had no spare and the
tires were bald. And not without the required fishtale off the road
as well as a tire removal in to check the brakes. But we got back to
town by 9pm.

Then the driver INSISTED on driving ME home, ALL the way home,
(which is difficult because they are installing a water pipe to the
hospital so our house pretty much cut off by a small ditch) "because
he was my neighbour" but then asked for money when we arrived. I
exclaimed that this is exactly why I wanted to walk and gave him $2
and walked away.

The kids were in bed but Carla had spagetti and sausages (a big
treat!) and even some red wine ready. We had electricity so I even
had a hot shower before eating AND the neighbours forewent their
nightly prayer meeting so that was nice and that was my day! (Though
they were back at it early this morning.)

Once again, I know that God is taking care of us way more than we
even realize.

lest

lest the previous post leaves you wondering what we actually DO here...

last month we gave away 40 bikes to community home-based care and orphan volunteers from the 14 villages that we focus on. it was a fun day. A church in Ohio, Salem Mennonite, donated the funds needed for the bikes. They will make a HUGE difference for these volunteers!

highlights

So, here are some highlights from the last couple / few months:

We had dear friends over this last year, Peter and Verena, who were SALTers (Serving and Learning Together)with MCC. Pete did a year in Shirati about 2 1/2 hours north-west of Mugumu, and Verena did a year teaching English at a Bible college in Musoma. We often had them over on weekends and we grew to love them dearly.

In July their term was up, so we had to say goodbye to them in Arusha...

we miss them a lot already. They were great friends.

Ben and Aaron just being cute...I think this picture is old but I hadn't posted it yet!


Ben got a puppy, Lobo, for his fourth birthday. Our good friends Kristopher and Rebecca Hartwig were nice enough to pass him along to us. He's a pretty good looking dog, 1/4 ridgeback, 1/4 shepherd, and we don't know the other half!

A couple of months ago he looked like this:



and now:

I wonder who's winning:

These two make a good wrestling match as well:

Ben's FOURTH birthday:

My little baby is growing up too fast:

We have "birthday week" at our place since Kurt's, Ben's and my birthdays all come about the same week. This year we celebrated our 30th by going to a resort on Lukuba Island on Lake Victoria. It was beautiful. We stayed in a thatch-roof stone banda, enjoyed a beautiful hike to watch the sunset, and lots of swimming with the boys.

We also took a game drive in Serengeti just for kicks:

In early September, our good friend from Winnipeg, Amanda Furst, came to visit us for a week. She was AMAZING...she made us HAMBURGERS...grinding up the meat, lighting up the little charcoal stove, and BBQing them. She also can make some awesome jewellery. We loved having her around. She's already at Tanzanian local so she was easy company - spoke great Swahili and could navigate her way around town in no time.

Yes?

And one final note:

So this picture was actually taken when I was expecting with Aaron. Now I just need to get another picture like this with the boys...because we are expecting again. MUCH to our surprise, and delight, and trepidation. This next one is due end of March!

something to smile at

Check out this wicked birthday card, made by Kurt's sister and brother-in-law, Rebecca and Matt Van Otterloo.

Aaron is lucky - he has his OWN birthday - June 4th.

Then...July 25th is Kurt. August 1 is my turn. And poor Ben comes along August 2nd.

This year we both turned the big three o. Now we are wise and learned. :)

Anyway, this card was awesome. Thanks guys.

curls

ryan and kristen

we love you

ryan and kristen are two of Ben's favorite people.

ryan is kurt's younger brother, married to kristen, who I've known

since I was a 3rd grader and she a kindergartener with my sister.

they've been living in nairobi for the last 3 years, and we

were lucky to be able to see them every time we went up there.

now, good for them but unfortunately for us, they have

moved to Juba, Sudan to continue their work with Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF).

So we will miss them.

Juba might just need to be our next vacation spot. :)

Any playgrounds there??

We love and miss you already.