America, Volume 1

I have a lot of catching up to do about Africa on here, but let me update you on where we are. We're already almost two weeks into this whirlwind visit to see friends and family, and to attend the Young Life conference held every four  years. It's flying by.

One observation: we are blessed beyond our comprehension by the exceptional people God has put in our lives both here and in Africa. We've had many visits with friends and family already, and every one of them ended with us wishing we had longer to visit, and thanking God for the time we had.

Much of the first week was spent getting physicals and touching base with family; seeing friends and hitting some favorite spots around town. The kids have been having a blast with all their friends:

Ok, maybe today we exceeded Ruby's limit on socializing:

We've visited the Indianapolis Children's Museum twice, between doctor's visits. They have a great permanent exhibit about Ruby Bridges and we liked the good words/bad words board:

And the Yule Slide. When we last visited (the day we moved to Africa!!), the kids were too young to go down alone.

And hey, when in Indianapolis, you must observe Indy Car racing.

Here is Masaai Princess Barbie at the Museum, a good effort at Barbieizing this beautiful culture.

We spent tonight at Baker Chapel Church, where Len and I served in ministry together many years ago, and caught up with some of the finest people on earth.

Sometimes I feel like Forrest Gump or like we're getting away with something by doing life with so many amazing people. But it's just God's grace that weaves our lives together into a lovely, beautiful road.

Field Trip: Tide Pools

 Our little co-op has been having great fun learning our way through history this year. Ruby and Henry have made great progress; Ruby is reading chapter books as fast as we can give them to her it seems, and Henry is reading his first sight words. They both love learning, and for that I'm thankful!

This month's field trip was to the local beach, where a European couple who teach science here generously offered to take our kiddos for a guided tour of tide pools near their house. Our family loves exploring these constantly changing treasures wherever we go here, and it was an extra special treat to have the Smits along to answer our many questions.

Capturing creatures isn't my thing, as I prefer to observe (and teach my kids to observe) animals in their environments. However, the kids each had a small net and were encouraged to see what they could discover. Ruby was pleased to find a large sea cucumber.

 There were also dozens of assorted crabs, including this one I hadn't seen before, with hairy red legs:

 Henry found a starfish, but Ruby put it back in the water (without telling her brother), "so that it could be healthy and live." I love that sensitivity about her. In all fairness, she put her sea cucumber back as well, but we had to have a little family meeting about communicating important life events, like when you put your brother's treasure someplace he can't find it, without his permission. It was a really cool one, school-bus yellow with long, thin legs and grey tips.

Here is our friend Emmett with a cute starfish he found:

 One thing I like about beachcombing is that twice a day, with each tide, you get a totally new set of discoveries. And I like to think we have at least that many new beginnings each day. Each morning bring a new day with no mistakes, only opportunities, right? Still, I need a couple of restarts most days. When I'm near the ocean, I sense that God is big enough to handle all of my 'even though's".

I'll leave you with what was by far the coolest find, a sea turtle washed up on shore...it was over a foot across, dead less than a day. The kids really enjoyed checking it out. Hopefully, it can be cleaned up in a few days and used for older science classes.

Moon Over Mt. Meru

 If my camera could do the northern skyline justice right now, I'd post a picture of the moon high over Mt. Meru for you to enjoy. It's stunning and made me think about all the great moments of today. Let me share a few with you.

 This might not be your idea of a great time, but seeing a black mamba just about made Ruby and Henry's day. We've been studying reptiles in school, and Arusha's Meserani Snake Park provided a great setting for a field trip.

 This Gaboon Viper and its poisonous friends were behind glass and concrete, but they were still pretty intimidating. This guys' head wouldn't have fit in my hand.

The Horned Viper below was also massive:

 There were also several non-poisonous snakes and we got to hold a couple, including this sand snake. Ruby named him Nofeet and Henry asked if we could have him for a pet. I guess he really misses our kittens that disappeared last year.

 Speaking of disappearing, there were also a few large pythons at the park today, accompanied by photos of similar pythons who had eaten sleeping guards. Let this be a warning for anyone tempted to nap on the job!

The park also offered a guided tour of the Masai museum, and camel rides with a view of the local cattle auction. When Ruby and I were on the camel, she said, "Mommy, I love God's creation."

 And really, what's not to love?

There were a variety of crocodiles there, too. Separated from the camels and people, of course...that would be exciting though! This Nile crocodile is about half grown and was around 8 feet long. Our guide said that she was about 20 years old. I thought she looked pretty with the foilage in her skin.

 Loti, our guide, carefully held a young crocodile for the kids to touch. This one is about three years old and was snappy.

 Loti, a Masai warrior, also chatted casually with us about birds, conservation, and how he killed a lion in 1996 to achieve his manhood in the tribe. Later, Jonathan, our guide in the museum, added that Masai men must be circumsized at age 18 before they kill their lion. Immediately after which they drink large amounts of a honey-based alcoholic beverage.

 Several small Masai villages line the road to the park.

We're staying with friends who love Jesus and teenagers in Arusha, and Len had a great time speaking at their camp this weekend. Seriously great fun!

While he was busy at camp, I took the kids to the local Cultural Heritage Center and enjoyed the art gallery immensely.

These look way more real in the photo than in person. Here, my children dramatize a buffalo chasing a child. Good times at the foot of Mt. Meru!

Reminders

This week I was reminded of where we've been with Ruby-girl, and how far we've come.

We were playing a game together, one of a set we play often that helps teach social skills. Each of these game boards has a different focus, and the one we played yesterday focused on idioms.

Usually, Ruby loves these games and begs to play one more time. Usually, she tries to stay ahead of me and finish first. Yesterday, however, she froze up after her first turn. After that, she tried to manipulate the die so that she only landed on the spaces I had just landed on and explained. Tears were in her eyes for much of the game as her chin quivered, a breath away from crying.

What was the source of her pain? You're on cloud nine! Don't spill the beans! You're on thin ice! Cut it out!

These and other sayings that are such a part of our daily life were terrifying to Ruby, because in her literal understanding of the world she has no idea what people mean by saying such things. In our game, players land on a space and explain what people really mean when they say, "Your eyes are bigger than your stomach!" or whatever the idiom.

A couple of times, her answer was, "it means they don't like you". This broke my heart as I realized how confusing life can still be for my little girl who has worked so hard for each step of progress. Social cues that are effortlessly understood by most children must be studied and learned by others. For these children (and adults!), navigating social situations can feel like an endless test they are constantly on the verge of failing.

So I sat there yesterday, trying to explain simply yet logically why someone would say, "You're in hot water!" to someone who was not actually being burned by hot water. Or why, when someone says, "Time to hit the books!" they really mean it's time to study or read, not that you should hit the books with your hands.

And I remembered other places we've been with Ruby:

• temporary bouts of paralysis
• seizures
• huge regressions in development
• specialists and tests with no answers
• being given a variety of grim labels for our child
• tears and prayers and hurting hearts
• amazing therapists of many kinds
• going on a diet the 'professionals' said wouldn't work
• seeing the diet help our daughter dramatically
• reading research for hundreds of hours
• praying and praying and praying some more
• searching for and finding a homeopath skilled in helping children like Ruby
• being amazed with the progress we saw from said homeopathy
• making great friends who share this journey

By the grace of God, Ruby's made so much progress, and I'm thankful for that. Today was a good reminder that we're not done making progress.

After that round of Idioms, there was no "Just one more game" from Ruby. I left it out, however, hoping she would look at it in her free time.

Tonight, as she and Henry were playing before bed, being silly and pretending to discipline each other, Ruby went to the table where the game board was. After a few seconds, she declared, "Henry, you're in hot water!"

My heart is a little more joyful tonight.

Homeschool: Settling In

Ruby was reading a book to Henry this morning and it struck me that I really love this homeschooling thing. I'm exhausted as I write this, nine hours later, but I'm also appreciating the hidden benefits to teaching our kids at home versus outsourcing.

As we continue into this adventure, several new benefits have presented themselves, but three stand out today:

1) Our children really like each other - because they are learning the same material (at different levels) and sharing more experiences together, they are bonding over history and reading (Ruby reads at least once a day to Henry and once a day to me) and life in general, and I like seeing them be friends like that. They have a lot to talk about and they frequently discuss what they're learning.

Last year they each spent most of their freshest hours in different environments, with people we like and love, but who all scatter at the end of the school day. So they came home tired, having spent their best waking hours away from family, and each told the other about their day. But they weren't really sharing life together other than eating dinner and getting ready for bed, which I'll admit aren't our most peaceful times each day. Now, we usually eat breakfast together after everyone's slept as much as they need to, and it's much better family time.

2) We really like our children - My hypothesis on investing in children is being proven: the more you invest in your children, the greater the returns. I'll admit that I had a lot of fun last year, having more lunches with friends, having more alone time, prayer time, writing time and husband time while the kids were in school.

However, there is a thrill that comes with looking into your child's eyes as they tell you all about Squanto or how to find the answer to three times six or how they just wrote their name. I will admit it is a lot of fun watching Henry learn addition and subtraction by having a war with kanga balls and then seeing how many we each ended up with, how to even our totals, how many to add or subtract to get zero, and so on.

Len has been able to get in on the action, teaching a few hours a week while I volunteer locally. Yes, he works late one extra night a week to make up for that time, but it's great for him and great for the kids to spend that time together.

3) School is flexible, like life - There's been a virus going around the last few weeks, and it would have knocked each of our children out of school for a few days. However, since school is right here, we were able to keep up with our lessons. One night we built compasses out of needles and corks and tried them out at dinner. Once in a while our bedtime story is some component of the curriculum.

When we travel, school comes with us. It takes much less time to teach a concept to fewer children, and so we spend less time in lessons and more time practicing and reinforcing that concept as it occurs throughout daily life. Field trips happen one or two times a year in most schools, only because the logistics of transporting dozens of children with few adults can be burdensome. However, hands-on learning is how most children learn best. The flexibility of this homeschool model of education is showing amazing results so far, and we are only in our first semester. Not the easiest road, but it is lovely! :)

Field Trip: Njiani

Our little homeschool co-op is planning one formal field trip per month (one cool thing about homeschooling is that you get field trips as often as you want!) and this week we went to a local furniture designer's shop to see what she does and try our hands at designing.

After a tour of her shop, which included talking about furniture function and materials, we went outside and the kids got to draw their dream furniture. Ruby drew a very ornate throne (above) and Henry drew a series of tables and what looked to me like a wine rack. He said he couldn't tell me what it was because it was a secret.

He is a mysterious little person.

After drawing their furniture, they were given some clay and sculpted their furniture. This is Ariana's drawing and model of a gorgeous room divider Catherine has in her shop right now. The original piece is made of wood and handmade lace.

Then, just for good measure, the kids each got a wooden soap holder to sand, varnish and paint if they wanted to. Ruby got one made from coconut wood:

After a brief clean-up, we all enjoyed lunch at Njiani, prepared by Catherine herself. The kids also enjoyed playing in the large garden there. We look forward to seeing how it develops as play areas are added!

Note: As of October 1, Njiani is open Tuesday through Sunday, 7 a.m.-7 p.m.

Green Goodness

"You win the man contest today." Len's face contorted as he struggled to finish today's green smoothie.

I guess goodness is in the mouth of the beholder.

Two things happened this summer: I had some health problems, and we had Kindles delivered to us by a great mission team visiting some friends. Since I was unable to be as active as usual, and had the ability to get books instantly instead of waiting several weeks or months, I put the Kindle to work trying to find ways to be more healthy.

Cheese has been almost an addiction for me since I can remember. Friends in high school used to tease me about perpetually having cheese in my hand ready to eat. For most of my life, I've seen other food largely as a vehicle for cheese. Breads, vegetables, meat, pear pie...everything is better with cheese, right? And I justified this by touting the protein and calcium in each ounce.

When Ruby was diagnosed with autism and we decided to try the gluten-free, casein-free diet for her, she could no longer eat cheese, which was one of her favorite foods as well. I gave up eating cheese when she was awake, but went directly for one or two cheese snacks as soon as she was in bed. A nice Stilton on saltines is a great way to end the day. My cheese intake went up again after several months, until we moved to Africa. Good cheese (rennet free, raw milk and hand made) is difficult or impossible to find in Tanzania, and even mediocre cheese is quite expensive here. Still, we've managed to consume a 2-kilo block of cheddar each month or so, cheaply made cheese I wouldn't have touched in America yet we pay three times as much for it here, and are thankful to have it.

All this talk of cheese is to tell you that I realized this summer that my diet had to change if I was going to be healthy again. And a few books from the Kindle have helped direct that change.

First, I downloaded a free book, Raw Food by Erica Palmcrantz and Irmela Lilja. I had read quite a bit about raw food diets over the years, but it seemed extreme and restrictive. However, the more I've learned about how the body metabolizes food, and the more I've started trusting that God knows what he's doing, I've become more and more convinced that what we need is growing right around us, not packaged in boxes or supplements or medicine. My friend Danielle from college always said, "Let food be your medicine," and I wish I had listened to her more then.

So, I made some recipes from Raw Food (Avocado Soup, Hawaiian Breakfast, Beet Soup and smoothies), and was pleasantly surprised when my family liked them. Fresh fruits and vegetables are relatively easy to find here and are more affordable than other food, so we jumped into raw food. Added bonus: these things are all gluten free!

As I was looking at sale books on the Kindle one night, I bought another book: Green for Life, by Victoria Boutenko. In it, she addresses several health benefits of eating fresh greens, and encourages the reader to try one green-based smoothie a day for 30 days. She also discusses pH in the body and how cancer cannot grow in a body with a slightly alkaline balance. I had read about this many years ago when my sister and then my dad were dying of cancer, and was pleased to find so many ties between alkalinity and greens in the diet. The idea of getting greens in a smoothie appeals to me greatly, since it's easy to make and easy to drink, and with a little more fruit, easy to get the kids to drink!

We took Ms. Boutenko up on her green smoothie challenge, and it's been going well, but we missed the last two days. This may explain why I tried to make this morning's smoothie super green. By the look on his face, Len thought celery (stalks and leaves), green pepper, cucumber, lemon and pineapple, with two dried apricots for more sweetness, was green nastiness. When I finished mine and asked him if he was going to put his down the toilet if I left the room, he let me win, and I finished his. For his sake, I hope he brings home some sweet fruit tonight!

Our Monthly Visit

Usually, we get to see the Dawasco man more than once a month. He comes to the gate every 2-3 weeks on average, demanding to be let in, insisting that we are breaking the law if we refuse him entry. And maybe we are.

It's just that we don't care anymore.

Last month when he came in, I didn't know he was here. We had a new employee whom he bullied into opening the gate, and by the time I saw him outside, he had been at the water connection several minutes. I raced out to intercept him.

One quick note: DAWASCO is the local water company, whose job is to provide us with water in the pipes coming to our house. To have this luxury is expensive, and we pay dearly for it. The water is not drinkable and you don't want to get too much in your mouth in the shower.

The conversation was always the same:

DM (Dawasco Man): You haven't paid your bill and I'm turning off your water.

Me: Oh, but we have paid our bill. We pay it each month. Check with your office.

DM (standing over me and raising his voice): YOU HAVEN'T PAID YOUR BILL. NO WATER.

Me: Oh, please don't turn off our water. I can show you the stamped receipt.

DM (almost nose to nose with me now): I'M TURNING OFF YOUR WATER TODAY!

This conversation usually goes on for about five minutes, until DM wields his power and says he won't shut off the water today, but if I don't pay the bill (which he never has), he will turn it off tomorrow. Or, I can pay him the amount right now and my problems will go away.

For those who know me, you know I'm just playing along with the cultural expectation of being polite and taking abuse from the one perceived to be in power. Because I generally don't ask abusive people to pretty please not harm me.

But back to last month...DM, when I arrived on the scene in our yard, walked through the above script, agreed (after much pleading from me) that he would not disconnect our water that day, and left. However, he had already turned off our water, before I knew he was there. Which meant that two or three days later, when we had gone through our maji storage tanks, we ran out of water.

This upset me in several ways. First, we do pay a lot of money for the luxury of that Dawasco line. And even though it doesn't work half the time, we can fill up our 4000 litres of storage and live on that for a few days, using water sparingly.

My Mama Bear instinct also came into play. Not having water puts my children at risk. It's more difficult to bathe and have water for cleaning food and filtering to drink. Not bathing puts my children at higher risk for illness. DM had lied to my face about leaving the water on and was apparently alright with leaving our water off for a month, despite the fact that we had paid all of our bills on time.

Finally, I spent the whole of that Saturday climbing around the clay tile roof of our house, rigging up a system with our garden hose and our reserve reserve tank to get water into the tanks on our roof, which feed water into our taps. Fundi bomba mama.

So, this morning when he came in and started the same song and dance, I cut him off and told him to get out. He told me I couldn't. I told him our security men could and went to press the call button. And this is when he changed his tone and started calling me Sister, Rafiki....When he reverted to his abusive lines, I told him to get out immediately and he did, handing me a fake bill (with a ridiculous total) as he went. He again offered to take payment immediately to make these problems go away.

Len came screeching around the corner a few minutes later. Racing about 50 yards past our gate, he somehow managed to squeal the tires in the dirt road as he stopped suddenly beside DM. That was actually pretty cool. After telling DM to never to yell at his wife again, Len showed him a current, paid bill with our balance. It turns out Dawasco actually owes us money!

But there is no happy ending to this story...DM couldn't stop lying to me today about whether or not he turned our water off before, he tried to say he turned it on today and we should thank him...I can't help but feel a little sorry for him, because he is clearly struggling with the truth. And he is a guy who is likely making far less than what covers his basic needs, and public servants here of all kinds depend on bribes to break even. And though it's not legal, it's part of the fabric of this society. While we are fortunate to have water today when so many of our friends don't, we know that tomorrow we may well be the ones with empty tanks and no water in the pipes. In this mess of power and water shortages, we feel blessed when we have either, let alone both.

All over the world, this scenario happens in various degrees hourly, only many are not as empowered as we are to stand up for what is right. And this grieves me. Because I know that I am too often the one enjoying all of life's bounty and not taking time to concern myself with those who need help fighting injustice.

In the big picture, this morning's events will fade out, but coming face to face with injustice troubles me tonight. Especially when the injustice seems to be coming from so many directions.

God, help me be patient with your timing, and trust you as the keeper of justice.

Beach Day at School

We're in the middle of Beach Day at our new homeschool, which I hope to make a weekly event. You may think I blog an awful lot about the beach and/or ocean, and it's true that we are here quite often. But that's largely because it is the main place to go here for any kind of variety/entertainment/refreshment. The Indian Ocean has become our park, Children's Museum, Conner Prairie, Zoo, Eiteljorg, canal, White River and everyplace else that we enjoyed in Indianapolis. And really, who wouldn't like to have school with tide coming in twenty yards away? I am so excited about how well this is going!

Ruby and I came prepared with a couple of school books (The Tale of Three Trees and The First Christians) and worksheets, some observation activities and our Bible, which is bin one each day at home.

However, our day has been hijacked by a tiny, one inch long gecko lizard that somehow landed on my backpack, which was sitting upright between our lounge chairs near the beach. This little guy, named Echo by Ruby, has spent the last 45 minutes shedding his skin inches from our noses.

Beginning with his tiny toes (which Ruby reminded me are covered with thousands of tiny hairs), he used the zipper seam of the bag to slough off his leg skin, then rubbed his nose against the zipper until it looked like he had on a Lone Ranger mask. Seriously, this little lizard has performance in its future...it just keeps staying on the backpack while we watch it.

Ruby is faithfully noting each event:

"He has four toes on each foot!"

"It is EATING IT'S SKIN!!!"

"Do you think that lizard will go to heaven when it dies?"

"How many fish will those men catch today?"

"Why did God make crows? Just to steal our food?"

"I'm going to catch that crow and get my food back!"

"Is that boat sinking?"

After a short break with the mask on, Echo continued pulling off the rest of his old skin, pausing several times to eat loose skin around his legs, and to just plain rest. For a lizard smaller than a child's finger, this is hard work!

I wish I had my camera here with its macro lens to take photos of all this action. It's been a perfect school day for us, with fishing boats showing up just at the right time in The Three Trees when they build the boat from the second tree, the gecko providing a great observation opportunity, and Ruby and I having great talks about all of it.

The last of the old, dull tail skin is being eaten by Echo, and he's now looking quite fresh and dark brown. We're back to rhyming words, reading books, counting ants and stones and sorting shells, and describing the beauty around us as the tide rolls away. And I'm very thankful for this time with my daughter and that we jumped into homeschooling with both feet.

First Day of School!

After a bit of a rough start, our first day of homeschooling was fabulous.


It seems that Ruby, despite our numerous talks about the mechanics of schooling at home, thought there would be more students present in our home today. And she was fine, right up to my, "Let's get going, Ruby!" to begin the day. The meltdown was intense but short, and I was thankful that the first box of the day held directions to read Proverbs 3 and had a worksheet/discussion sheet we enjoyed going through.

Ruby loves reading the Bible, and to assert her free will in the matter, she insisted on reading through the entire Old Testament, up to Proverbs, before we could begin. Thankfully, it was a children's Bible, but it still took us about 90 minutes to get to Proverbs, as we read each story and she asked questions. But really, who's going to tell their child, "No, honey, you can't read any more Bible today."

One funny detail: Ruby and Henry have been wearing "laser zappers" on their forearms this weekend, and Ruby made mysterious drawings on hers each time she completed a task today.

We talked Proverbs, practiced handwriting, reviewed math, started a lapbook about fruit of the Spirit, read to each other about the Greeks, and really enjoyed spending time together. We have two weeks until we begin the Tapestry of Grace curriculum; we're starting in unit three of Year Two (pre-colonial America), which should tie in nicely with our scheduled trip back to the States in the middle of the school year. Our survey of history from creation through the Renaissance has been cruising right along, and we should arrive in Jamestown right on time. :)

Several people have asked about curriculum; these are guidelines for the year:

Tapestry of Grace - History, Geography, Art, Literature
Legends & Leagues - Love their map-building exercises!
Apologia Zoology 1 Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day - Science
We are also doing quite a bit of Ocean-themed science this year - one good thing about living here!
A Reason For Handwriting
ReadyWriter (we need a LOT of handwriting help at the moment!)
Calculadder - Math review/mastery of tables
Math-U-See - Math building
Drawing With Children - Ruby loves to draw and wants to learn more about art
Draw Write Now - Did I mention we need handwriting practice? :) With great drawing lessons built in.

Ruby has also decided she wants to learn Spanish, so we are putting together a curriculum for her. Seriously, I wanted to teach her French, or at least Kiswahili since we live in East Africa. But she insists that Spanish is the only language she is interested in. So Spanish she shall learn! And so shall I!

We certainly aren't going to do each of these daily. Between swim lessons, play time, music of some sort (still working that out), service learning and living, I think we're going to be as busy as we want to be. Armed with the state standards and a slew of great ideas, it looks like a grand year from where I sit.

Happy Friend Day!

One positive side to living in Dar is that every day is like summer. As long as you love summer weather, you're gonna do great here.

Henry and Ruby spent one such recent day with dear friends Sarah and Meshack, hanging in this great Mexican hammock in the banda, and generally having lots of giggly fun. It was SabaSaba, or seven seven in kiswahili - a national holiday where local trade is celebrated with a big trade show downtown.

To sweeten the mix further, we added more dear friends, Hannah and Zac, with their precious daughter Zara, and we all went to a local hotel so the kids could splash in the pool (it DOES feel like summer, even if it is really the middle of winter here).

Seriously, I mean precious!

Len was able to join us for part of the day and the kids took full advantage of this by sitting on him as often as possible. It helps that he works across the street and can wear his swim trunks and rashguard to work, instead of his previous uniform of a suit and tie.

 The hotel we were at brought in a small inflatable climber/slide and also had a plastic slide there...this is big news for Mbezi Beach where we live! Kind of like Camby, IN installing a roller coaster.

SO thankful for a special day with friends! It's been a heavy kind of summer (will write more on that when it's processed a little better) and we need days like these to laugh and unwind a little!

Ruby's Heart

Yes, another bug post. We found this gorgeous, but mortally damaged, moth in the back yard, and spent some time studying it. Its wings did contain every color of the rainbow, and some I've never seen before.

The tips of its wings never expanded and stiffened properly, so it couldn't fly. But Ruby spent over an hour watching over it, shielding it from the wind and hungry birds. I love that little girl's huge heart.

After going in to find a suitable container to keep it in, we returned to find it was gone...Ruby prayed for it and seemed to handle losing it well. There will be many, many more creatures to love and protect in her future, I'm sure.

Bugs Are Really Swell

They don't grow 'em like this in Indiana, folks.

Bugs may seem like a lame blog topic to you, but if you have young children and live in insect-dominated area, you probably spend a fair amount of time checking out their discoveries, or investigating what "Hey! Look at this thing!" means when your son shouts it from outside. Someone once said that bugs will someday rule the world. They obviously haven't visited our yard.

The camera couldn't pay enough respect to this line of ants so thick they were carving a valley across the hard ground. They are carrying several dead-ish bugs along with them:

One day, there were about 20 of these moths playing around our yard:

This guy was in the throes of death when we found him. Which is the only reason I got this close for a photo.

The kids love dragonflies...they are abundant here in all colors of the rainbow. Ruby's favorites are the purple and pink ones, and Henry likes the blue ones. Seriously creative creation here!

Lizards are common and welcome in our house - they eat mosquitoes and other pests. We see them on the walls every day, but this patriarch is noticeably huge compared to most. Live long and prosper!

For about a week, I found several large spiders around the house. Not as large as the mothership, but large enough that the kids felt proud to have trapped them. And yes, Mom, we released them unharmed into the wild.

This praying mantis was praying its last Hail Mary one morning before we took Len to work. When we returned home later after running a few errands, the ants had taken over. This was about an hour before they carried off its head. Before dark, the entire body was gutted. Pretty efficient and another very cool science lesson.