sneak peak

We will be back on U.S. soil and enjoying furlough in just 9 days! It is crazy how soon that is! We've been working on a photo book to share with everyone while we are back, but I thought I would share a sneak peak with our avid blog readers.

This is me at Mzee Charles' duka. A duka is a little store. Most things here are purchased at some sort of duka. There are duka la dawas (duka of medicine- pharmacy), dukas that have all hardware items, dukas that have buckets and other plastic goods, etc. And then there are dukas that just carry a random assortment of goods. At this particular one, I buy flour, sugar, toliet paper, and Ginger Ale. 

Here is a hardware duka.

Here's a shot of the market, where we get produce.

Well, if that didn't satisfy your appetite for pictures of Geita you'll have to wait a bit longer and see our book when we get back! (or you could check out Carson's mom's facebook page. she has posted several other pics from the book)

p.s.- If you have some time on your hands we would appreciate some prayers for water! Our water situation is certainly not the most dire need in the world today, or even in Geita for that matter, but if we don't get some city water or a massive downpour pretty soon I'm not sure what I'm gonna do about all the laundry piling up!

2009

What a year it was! Here's a recap of memorable events from the year:

We started the year packing like crazy and trying to prepare ourselves for Tanzania.

We moved to Tanzania, and realized that you are never really prepared for that kind of thing.

We saw Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Meru (from a distance).

We learned Kiswahili. (I'm not going to pretend like I'm done with this. I still have a long way to go to be able to say everything I want to say, but for all practical purposes I learned it.)

I learned to wear a kanga.

We visited Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda.

We saw Rusumo Falls.

We went on our first safari.

We got pregnant!

We helped put out a fire.

We took a lot of cold showers.

We enjoyed the hot ones more than ever before.

We made our first Tanzanian friends.

We learned to live without a few things.

I learned to cook a lot of things from scratch that I never thought I would: french bread, bagels, pita bread, cream of potato soup, pudding...

We adapted.

We struggled with adapting.

 

Carson made 2 concrete sinks for our house and a million other things.

We said goodbye to Carson's granny.

Our standards changed.

We moved into our house.

We stopped asking why.

We grew even closer.

I made my first Christmas stuffing. 

It was a very FULL year! Full of firsts and changes. Full of failures and successes. Full of surprises, good and bad.

And now we begin 2010 by coming home for our first furlough and the birth of our first child. 

Looking forward to seeing you all!