Henry is Five

He may be six by the time I post this. Poor kid.

Ruby and Henry each wanted smaller, age-specific parties this year. For Henry's, we had several of his best mates over for an afternoon of food, games and general revelry.

The kids loved fighting with water balloons. The little guy whose feet are visible in the upper left of this photo, Josiah, is super quick and never got touched, despite drenching most of the others with his great aim.

 I love this photo...Henry doesn't realize he's about to be soaked!

 Activities for the kids included a scavenger hunt, for which Myrtle, our tortoise, was supposed to be the big-ticket item. Myrtle, usually extremely reclusive, thwarted my plans by appearing in the middle of the yard in full view, before they were even looking for him.

Please pardon Myrtle's bare bottom. We're not sure what's going on there.

Fortunately, the boys were thrilled to feed Myrt a tomato.

 For about thirty seconds. Then they wanted more games.

One unplanned activity I went with, because it was happening anyway and because the boys loved it, was building a huge fort out of all our furniture, cushions and blankets. Boys are so non-complicated.

 Henry has started having tea most afternoons. Ruby often makes it for him. No joke. He prefers masala tea, black with sugar. He is very particular about the sugar spoon and the stirring spoons being separated. He is very much his father's child.

 Ruby had a sleepover with her best pal Happy on Henry's birthday, and Henry had his pal James over as well. Not one to spend excess time or money on a cake, I drew a Superman H on his cake with colored frosting we brought from the states, and he was thrilled. Boys are SO low maintenance!

 Collaborative Lego game, where each kid got a bag of legos and passed around a creation they took turns building. I love that five countries are represented by children in this photo.

 It was one of those steamy-hot days we get used to during rainy season, and it did rain on and off all day. When it wasn't, we played another water game with sponges and buckets outdoors. Must. Get. Loud. Children. Outdoors.

Ruby and Happy having a quieter moment before the wildness set in.

Our son. He's five.

Five years and some days ago, I drove myself to the hospital (after Ruby was born, we decided there really wasn't much reason to have the whole family there all day), and thirteen hours later, our sweet, strong, smart son was born. I love this little person!

Lovely Week

This is the stuff dreams are made of: one week ago today, my friend Sharon emailed with the question, "Can we stop by and see you for a day or so this weekend?"

Now, Sharon, her husband Brad and their children have all been to Africa. They know that coming to Dar is not 'stopping by' even on the way to Ethiopia, their destination. The expense. An extra day away from home. They had every reason not to come and visit us.

But they did anyway.

We were thrilled to host them in our home:

 Making a 48 hour itinerary that includes rest and relaxation is not as easy as it sounds. We managed to get in several of our favorite places and people, but time limited us. We did roll them into a Saturday night Scottish Summer Ceilidh with some dear friends, which was fun. Also, tea at one of our favorite local spots, Mediterraneo. Sharon thought she was safely out of this shot:

 Mediterraneo is right on the Indian Ocean, and is one of the most peaceful spots I've found locally. The kids can play endlessly with coconut shells and other sea treasures they find, and the sound and sight of the water and parade of local fishermen walking by are both soothing and interesting.

 I really thought about kidnapping Brad and Sharon at this point. Two things hindered me: they were headed to Ethiopia to pick up their son, and also the traffic in Dar does not allow us to go fast enough to keep them from jumping out. I decided to preserve our friendship, and the moment, with a photo instead.

 After church Sunday morning (I took some photos not included here of the Bonnetts talking to some of our friends here...I think that's what heaven might look like!), we took them to another favorite local spot, Interchick, where for $5 or so you can get half a barbequed chicken and chips (french fries). The people behind Len are preparing for a wedding reception.

 Bonnetts on the beach:

 And then they were gone. There were so many things we would love to show our friends who come over, as well as those who don't. Reservations are still being accepted!!

Monday we had a special Pentecost SalaSala, combining the Monday and Tuesday groups into one with some special activities. Grace (middle) and Winston led a funny rendition of the electric slide. African kids love to dance!

 Dear friends Laura and Shaun talking to the kids...their two families spearhead the ministry. One thing I love about it is that there is nothing asked in return. Just come, be loved, hear about Jesus, go home, repeat next week.

 Ruby and Henry at SalaSala with their pal James.

 Loving the crayons and working in a group. These kids are working much of the time, and they get to come and just be children at SalaSala club each week.

 The aforementioned dancing...shy kids come to life when music plays! The little one in the orange skirt brings her younger sibling (next to her) on her back each week.

 There were about 150 kids this week from my estimate, not counting helpers.

 The children were divided into teams to study the Holy Spirit.

 Oh my GOODNESS I need to get my 'Mama' face on and stop laughing so hard at these antics. The more time I spend with the children, the more I fall in love with them, and with God.

Those days, plus a lot of school, active living, unnecessary drama and being able to laugh about it all puts us another week down the lovely road.

It's All in the View

Caught a full rainbow this morning after the rains; when Ruby came outside to see it, she explained to me how a rainbow is made visible, and that Roy G. Biv is an easy way to memorize the colors. Then, looking at the flood in our front yard, she explained the water cycle to me. This was all before breakfast.

An hour later, we were warming up for the day (a little stretching, a little joint compression game, a little sensory work to music and dancing around), and we were kicking as we danced. Ruby, who shares my (once) super-flexible genetics, said, "Look how high I can kick!"

She proceeded to kick her right leg with such force and agility that she kicked herself in the face, knocked her glasses off and fell over. We all laughed. Hard.

The more I press into my children, spending time with them, looking them in the eyes and really listening to only them when they talk, looking at them when I talk to them...the more I spend true quality time with them, the better our relationships become. And the better our relationships become, the more time I want to spend with them.

Please understand: we are not perfect. Even this morning, between our sweet moments, we had more than one tantrum per child, a nasty argument between them, and it is still quite possible that I will be disowned as their mother or uninvited to next year's birthday parties by the end of today. We haven't had electricity much of this week, and one of our four water tanks is leaking, causing us to run out of water every 2000 liters. We just got done having a huge conversation about how we all make mistakes, and how we must learn from them and keep living life.

Even with all the shortcomings of our family and life situation, we can choose to concentrate in the fun and beautiful moments, small as they may seem. Or, we can choose to live in conflict, chaos and fear. Which will you and I choose today?

It really is a lovely road.