Preparing to travel again!

Habari Gani? - How are you?

We leave for the language school up north, on Sunday morning. Our bags are mostly packed. This city is significantly cooler because of the elevation. We are excited about being able to focus on language learning for a few weeks. The girs are excited about being in a school just for them. They are doing well in their Swahili even though they are still a bit shy to speak to anyone but Rob and I with the phrases they know.

Rob had a dream 2 nights ago that he was eating a big cheeseburger. Then yesterday we were out doing some shopping for the language school, which was an experience I will share with you in a moment, and we were able to have cheese burgers for lunch. It was really cool! God gave him the desires of his heart, or at least the cravings of his tummy!

Shopping at the local Market...Yesterday Pastor George took us to the local street market to buy a few things for our trip. We needed an umbrella, pants for Rob and shoes for Rob, Shelbyanne, and Emily. I told Rob that I wish that I had video cameras for eyes, so that I could show everyone what we experienced. We started out at a little booth that had men's shoes. They sat Rob down and he tried on a few pairs of shoes. They realized that his feet were bigger than the shoes they had there, so guys started running away and returning with shoes for him. Other guys were bringing out shoes for Shelbyanne to try on. I think there were about 20 men "helping" us overall. After about 15 minutes of Rob and Shelbyannetrying on shoes, me feeding the kids snacks to keep them entertained, and Rob picking out a pair that he liked...we left. Pastor George looked at me and said, "What else do we need?" I replied, "Umbrellas." So he walked away in search of some umbrellas. The guys with the shoes followed us on our umbrella search. We found the umbrellas and bought one, which was a much easier process. Then we headed to find pants for Rob, which also went well. Although, while the kids and I were waiting again, Shelbyanne spotted some toys. Once they noticed she was looking at them, they started putting toys in the girls' arms. They seem to think if they can just get it into your hands you won't be able to refuse it. Then they won't take the stuff back, so you have to buy it. :) We finished with the pants (bought NO toys) and followed Pastor George through this Labrynth of booths with clothes, shoes, bags, shoes, toys, shoes, and more shoes. We ended up finding shoes for Emily, and then making our way out to the taxi. The guys with the shoes Rob liked followed us the whole way through, and we made our final deal from inside the taxi. We got the shoes for way less than we would have paid in the States, but I bet he would have come down a little bit more had we left and come back at a later time.

Then last night we got to eat Pizza, for the second time while here. After dinner we all got ice cream cones dipped in chocolate. It was a great treat. The sisters had asked that we eat elsewhere yesterday for our meals. They had one of their sisters and several others in a car accident where three died and 6 were injured. They went to the hospital and were not able to prepare meals for us. We felt very badly and shared our condolences in the best way that we could with our limited language.

Well, that is it for now. Please pray for safe flights, smooth transitions, and a profitable time at the Language School. We will have internet access there as well, so we will be keeping you posted on our progress.

Blessings,

Amy

Swahili for this post:

Donovan mwaka mojia na nusu

Meaning - Donovan is one and a half years old

The Church we attend hosted a baptism for the pastor's son and a man from a tribe outside the city. It was at the beach, so we got to take a trip out to the beach for a little bit. We didn't want to get all wet and sandy so we just played at the water's edge a little bit, but the girls had a blast anyway. Donovan slept through most of it and then woke up long enough to notice we were somewhere different.

We have upgraded our bathtub for the kids to a bucket that they can all fit into, one at a time of course. They love bathtime now, before the water was just cold when we would pour it on them that they would fuss and cry.

The Sisters her have a herd of ducks. They bring them out for a walk each day, and have let the girls hold them. The girls want a pet so badly! Not yet.

Do you notice anything different in the last picture? Rob and I have given all the kids a haircut. It is just too hot here for long hair. They love it, and we do too.

Hope all is well with you all. I have packed the kids and I for our travels this weekend. Now just Rob's packing and some last minute details and we will be ready.

Kwaheri - Goodbye

Our New Life...

Life is very different here! I was riding in a taxi yesterday and noticed people on every street sitting around. I wondered, "Why don't they have anything to do?" What I didn't get is that "They did have something to do, and They were doing it." At Home we just seem to feel the need to go, go, go. I was definitely guilty of filling our schedules, so that our down time was spent in the car getting to the next thing or event. Here, almost 90% of our time right now is "down time".

Things are going to change! We have decided to use some of our start up costs to attend a 3 week language school in a city up north. It begins Monday, March 21st. Then when we return we hope to find a house for us to rent fairly quickly and begin setting it up. Language learning began on day 1 as we started learning greetings. Everyone is very eager to help us learn Swahili words and phrases. We have scheduled with the Pastor of the church we will be working with, Pastor George, as our language helper upon our return from Arusha.

God is so good! He knows exactly the times when I need to hear encouraging words. We have been out of the internet world for days at a time, and then have only had opportunity to use it sparingly. I feel like someone is stepping on that lifeline of mine. It is so very important for us to be in contact with our family, friends, churches. I know God is aware of what is going on in the facebook and e-mail world, and that it will still be there when we have our internet service established. I really feel like He is putting me to the test right now though. Am I going to trust that He is ALL I need?

Everyone is adjusting well! The food is good. The convent we are staying at runs a generator so they always have running water and power. Even when other parts of our neighborhood don't certain hours each day. That is helpful. The temperature for the rest of this month will be HOT. Then next month it is supposed to cool down and be nice for about 3-4 months. We're looking forward to that. I am getting used to the fact that I am just going to be sweaty. :) Surrendering to that fact makes life much easier. For me the hardest thing to get used to has been sleeping with no AC. Fans are great, but it is just plain hot. I am thankful this is a temporary circumstance, and am trying to focus on all the blessings of living here at this time.

Blessings...are found around every corner! The sisters here at the convent Love us and our children. They are so kind and accommodating. They cook our meals and will do our laundry if we leave it on the floor. The people are friendly and stare at us a lot. You really don't see many white people in this area of the city, so we are fun to watch, I guess. The young girls giggle at us a lot. I am wondering what that means. Maybe when I can speak the language I will ask them. Another major blessing is the encouraging notes on facebook, e-mail, and our blog. We really appreciate all your prayers. My heart is so lifted up and our spirits are high, because of you all! So, Thank You So Much!!

I look forward to when I have more to tell you. For now..."usikumwema" meaning - I am going to bed now.

Amy

Learning a new way of life...

We arrived to TZ yesterday morning. The flights all went well. The only 2 drawbacks are that they checked our stroller at the first flight all the way through to tz, which made getting around in the London airport a bit difficult. We each had a carry-on and we took a carseat for Donovan. Rob was a trooper for carrying a lot of it a lot of the time. The other sad things is that I left my sweater on the sirplane. We definitely do not need sweathers here.

We are staying at a catholic mission, and the Sisters could not be kinder. We definitely feel safe. They have cooked our meals for us and will wash our clothes if we need them to. We have been on the town a bit, which was interesting. I will post some photos soon. We had no idea what to expect in coming here.

Last night we slep some. It is so warm here and they do not have air conditioning in the rooms we are staying in. We slept with fans under mosquito nets. We didn't bring our pack-n-play, so Donovan and I slept in the same bed. He woke up at 11 and finally fell back asleep around 1am after having a snack and water and playing with toys, and did I mention crying. :) We all finally fell asleep and slept till 8am. We are still exhausted, but God will provide for all our needs.

We are at another missionaries home right now. They served us lunch and are allowing us to use their wireless internet. The next step is finding our new home. Please pray that the Lord will provide something that will meet our needs, maybe grant some of our wants, and help us find it soon.

Thank you all for your prayers and support. I will update again as soon as I can.

Today is The Day...

... That the Lord Has Made! We are rejoicing that God has brought us this far and has blessed us and provided everything we need to set out on this next phase of our lives.

We are all (the girls especially) so excited. They went to bed last night asking when we were going and woke up asking the same thing. I like having a night flight. We have time today to make any last minute preparations and not be rushed. We still have 2 bags to pack, but the wait is over. I have to keep this brief, but please be praying for safe flights and all of our 13 suitcases to make it there with us! We will let you know when we arrive.

Love and Blessings,
Amy

Living in the moment...

The other day I went to Publix and bought a 2 Liter of Coke for me, a 2 Liter of Mug root beer for Rob, chocolate filled Oreos also for me, and a special treat for Rob for Valentine's day. Knowing we will be leaving soon and not knowing what is available where we are moving to gives me the urge to have some things...one more time...for now. We are trying to enjoy every moment we have here at home. I truly love my home country and will miss many things about living here, family and friends most of all!

We are getting close to leaving. There are so many things to do that I find myself not having the time to stop and revel in our circumstances. I have moments of sadness about leaving mixed with waves of excitement that what we have spent the last 4 & 1/2 years of our lives preparing for is finally here.

What has been on my mind the most lately is that I still haven't finished our thank you notes for those who have supported us in the last few months. I am sure those who have blessed us are not thinking about that as much as I am. So, to those of you who have supported us with prayer and finances at all, but especially the last few months, Thank you so much! We appreciate everyone's love, prayers, encouraging notes and cards, and support.

Our suitcases are not packed yet, but we are ready to take the next step of our journey through this life. We are making progress each day to get ready to go. On tomorrow's agenda...have lunch with a friend and get ready for a weekend with the youth of our church at their "Impact Weekend" retreat! We get to be the leaders for the Senior class, an awesome bunch of young adults.

Till Next Time...
Amy


Here are the girls enjoying shaving cream.

Donovan was not interested in getting the shaving cream on himself so...

he just watched the girls.

Preparing to make preparations for our journey...

With the days counting down and the time for making lists and checking things off upon me I find myself excited and overwhelmed. We arrived back in Florida today. This begins three weeks of making lists, weeding through stuff, having a yard sale, purchasing, packing, making plans, hanging out, being leaders for a youth retreat weekend, visiting, attending a wedding, and much more! That seems like a reasonable amount of stuff to do, right? After a good night sleep I think I will be ready to attack the "to do" lists.

I have been told a few times lately that I am looking tired. I am definetely feeling tired in my body, but my spirit is energetic, joyful, and ready to get things done. My body will catch up eventually. God has been pouring out his love, encouragement, and blessings on me through His word, friends, family, and even strangers on the radio. I am sure of one thing...GOD! I don't know what tomorrow will hold, but I trust in the creator of everything. He is good and sovereign over all.

I do want to say to our family, churches, and friends back in Alabama..."A BIG THANK YOU!" We appreciate all the time we had with you and everything you have done to support us in the journey we are on. We love and miss you much.

As Always,
Amy