Telephoto Tuesday 2-for-1 Day

It's Tuesday again, mulling over bigger thoughts that will eventually make it into another post, but here is the story today. As an added bonus, I am giving you tomorrow's story for free. No guarantees what will happen, though.

First, I want to give Ruby an award for going to sleep by herself and sleeping all night in her own bed. While our kids don't get kicked out of our bed, we have been trying to keep everyone under a mosquito net all night, and Ruby claimed her prize of five jelly beans this morning. She promptly gave them to Henry, which was very sweet as she really likes them.

Living with one truck here has been challenging at times but great overall. We are saving money, communicating better and it has brought us closer together as a family. Except when we both need the truck at the same time. Then it brings us closer to needing marriage counseling.

Most days, we provide Len's transportation to and from work. He works by the ocean about 2K away from our house and it's a good excuse to go to the beach once a week or so when we pick him up. Today we dropped him off and came right home because we were taking Zena, a lady who works in our house a few days a week, to a new employer. She and her husband were both employed by a family who just moved away, and I am really just making things up for her to do most of the time because I can't stand the thought of firing her when the $18 or so she makes here a week (and that is with us paying her far higher than average wages) is all her family is living on right now.

So, as new families have been moving in all summer, I've been telling them about Zena. She has worked for mzungu (white expat) families for over seven years and she and her husband Elvis have a sweet little toddler, Janet. Most of the time I've struck out, since people often pass their house family on to the new tenant. But I found someone who needed help in the kitchen a few days a week, and Zena is very good in the kitchen! In fact, one of the things I invented for Zena to do to pass the time at our house is to spend one day per week with a trained Tanzanian chef, learning how to cook for mzungu.

Driving down our road behind a very small truck with a very big load

Taking Zena to the new friend's house was like a new challenge level on the video game that driving in Tanzania is. Narrow, unmarked dirt roads are the norm here, and many of them seem to be going somewhere until they suddenly disappear completely. I'm sure the locals who saw me doubling back from dead end to dead end had quite a chuckle.

The kids had a friend coming over to play, and Henry wanted to wait for him outside our gate. This has been a new favorite place for Henry as he discovered a lot of dirt and rocks out there. I have to admit it is a nice change of scenery from our own walls, despite the gorgeous flowering plants.

Whoopin' it up in the guardhouse

After little guy arrived, the kids were self-contained for quite a while. We read some books, ate lunch, cleaned a little bit, and I washed diapers.

LOVE drying everything on the line!

We went outside to check on the tomato and cilantro plants:

Nice little crop this week

 Ruby took a moment to look online for Toy Story 3 toys (we saw it a couple of weeks ago here - in 3D!) We get movies about two months after they come out in the US. There are three mainstream screens I know of here, and one Bollywood screen.)

The rest of the day was delightful...boys taking naps, girls playing games and reading, and except for me leaving the parking brake on when I went to get Len (panicky sweating as I thought I had a flat tire!) it was a great day.

Wednesday was Ruby's last day at preschool.

She starts Kindergarten Monday!! We picked up her uniform shirts this week (and swimsuit and P.E. uniform and hat....) so she is physically ready, at least. Praying that God helps us both be emotionally ready!

A local friend is building some tables for our bare living room. Catherine is a furniture designer with an architect's eye, and is also amazingly kind.

After solving many of the world's problems with another friend over lunch, it was pick-up time at preschool, and I enjoyed chatting with the teachers while letting Ruby have a few last minutes playing there. Then home, dinner and SLEEP. Something about living here makes us very tired at the end of the day. But that's another post.

Telephoto Tuesday

Welcome to the first 'day in the life' post on here. It may happen each Tuesday, it may happen at random intervals. It may never happen again. But we're here, and today's the day.

Today should have been a completely boring day. Really, I was home all day with the kids, had no transportation, no agenda and no guests. But as a dear friend used to say, only boring people get bored.

And we, friends, are not boring.

It's the middle of winter here, and that means 80+ degrees and sunny almost every day. There have been nice breezes coming over our front wall most days lately, and we spend a lot of time playing outdoors.

The first thing I did this morning was decide to give Henry a potty training boot camp. This may have been because I didn't want to wash diapers today. Never mind that. He is over three years old and needs to use the toilet eventually. Might as well practice.

He was sure I was trying to ruin his life. Without pants most of the day, we had several puddles. Yet another great reason to go outside. Don't have to clean up puddles in the grass.

While I have spared you those photos, we will include a few that feature Henry in his big boy underwear he got to wear on the bike.

Circus animal performing

Henry has just started riding his bike in the last week. He enjoys going 'fasterest'.

Today the bicycles were horses, and Ruby and Henry were circus ringmasters. Or performers. Everything and everyone became their subjects, including me. Lizards became fierce crocodiles. The lines in the brick pavers in the drive were tightropes, and the seeds and flowers in the crevices were tiny people and animals down below.

As the day progressed, Ruby and Henry moved to taming snakes made of long flowers from a plant in our yard. This takes a lot of concentration, by the intensity displayed above.

Ruby's snake then morphed into the Tickle Monster, a frequent guest at our playdates. Here it is coming to get me. Every Tickle Monster sighting has the same result - I turn into the Tickle Monster.

Fortunately, bicycles make for a quick getaway.

Beaches

Ruby and friends enjoying our South Beach getaway

Another South Beach moment. It's free and close...who wouldn't visit the beach?

Well, we've had several people comment that it looks like we're living on permanent vacation here. And it's true that we live in a tropical paradise setting. With the beach less than a mile from our house, and no Children's Museum, Chik-Fil-A, Connor Prairie, park or playground anywhere nearby, the beach does get at least one visit per week from our family.

We weren't really beach-goers before moving here. I guess lake beaches count, but we didn't live within walking distance of one of those, and the most recent visits to what I would consider real beaches were in Wisconsin on the shore of Lake Michigan, and in February it was a little chilly to really enjoy it. However, we are quickly learning to love the beach. The ocean and all its mystery - life, death, infinity - has always been magical to me. Being close and fun and free makes it an obvious choice for playdates, fellowship and family excursions here.

In fact, we're coming to appreciate the unique features of each beach here. Kunduchi, site of today's playdate, features a nice sandbar at low tide that allows you to walk over a quarter-mile out into the ocean. The beach is clean with fine, white sand (the clean ones are painstakingly kept nice by the hotels) and is also free on weekdays. The Kunduchi Beach Hotel is a majestic place with expansive beaches and was recently on some list of the 100 best beaches in the world. It is a gorgeous place, with great planning and a variety of ways to enjoy it - from outdoor restaurants to shaded lounges to the naked beach that is kept free of debris all day long.

And if Kunduchi is one of the best beaches in the world, South Beach, where we took a getaway weekend recently, is a few notches above it. Unbelievable. Every imaginable water feature from waterfalls to waves crashing on exposed reef at low tide to tidal pools that made our personal marine observation windows and soaking pools was present in our deserted stretch of beach. We saw maybe a dozen other humans on the beach the entire weekend, most of them locals fishing with just line. The tidal pools in the reef at low tide were akin to snorkeling without need for equipment...everything was just right there for the looking.

Of course, our dear Mbezi Beach is the closest place to see God's amazing hydrocreation. Depending on where you have beach access here, the beach varies from clean white sandy beach to kind of a brownish tan sand with seaweed and sea debris on shore. On the peninsula, there is the Yacht Club, which we only have access to through the invitations of members. But the beach is pretty swanky and clean, with good amenities and seating.

The kids absolutely love going to the beach, and it's a good thing. It's what we have. Sand castles, sand cities, looking for sea life and shells, and playing in the surf are all good ways to unwind from challenges we find here. And it's impossible for me to sit by the sea and not marvel at God's greatness and creativity.