Project 52: the kitchen!

My life as a mom revolves around taking care of Jude, but where we live cooking is a necessity. There is no take out, only one decent restaurant 30 minutes away, and the only frozen dinners are the ones I made last week and stuck in the deep freeze! Before we moved here I thought I liked "cooking from scratch", but my knowledge of such was limited to desserts. As it turns out you can make all manner of breads [pita, french, tortillas, hamburger buns-though that one eludes me still] and other basics [chicken stock, crackers, bread crumbs, caramel sauce, ricotta cheese, sour cream...] completely from scratch, and we do! I'm so glad to have a husband who LOVES to cook! I now know that if it involves anything from a can, and you didn't have to make at least one of the ingredients a day in advance then it's not really "from scratch". Ok, that's an exaggeration. And, honestly, I really love that I've been put in a position to try all sorts of recipes I never would have in America. It's exciting when you make a cracker that really tastes like a Ritz, or you get one of the pitas to properly puff up in the oven. I know more about cooking than I ever dreamed and I bet, one day, after we've lived in the States again for a while, I'll find myself returning to some of my favorite from scratch recipes. The point of all my rambling about cooking is to say that while I was in Kenya in March, Carson did a lot of work on our unfinished kitchen. This post is supposed to be a glimpse into motherhood and this mama spends a lot of time in the kitchen! Check it out:

Chalkboard Backsplash

You might have to look close, but the whisk is drawn in. It's usually dirty!

A great drawer for all my pans.

A handy little hanging cup for toothpicks.

Most importantly, drawers with faces and handles!

The changes, in particular the drawers and drawer faces on the already existing drawers have really made it easier to do little things in the kitchen with Jude. He sometimes tries to get into the bottom drawers, but if we start chanting push, push, push, he pushes the drawer closed and moves on about 61% of the time! It also eliminated the open space under the sink where Jude used to play. It was not a good place for him and hard to get him out because the framing for the drawers were already in. It's also really great to now have all the dishes in the kitchen instead of the cabinet in the living room.

On a design note, I'm still trying to decide what to do about artwork and curtains. I want to add some color and softness to the room, possibly some fabric stretched on frames above the chalkboard? or maybe Tanzanian paintings? And also some sort of window treatment. I don't want to block any of my light and don't really need any privacy, so maybe just a valance? I'm in no hurry really.

Well, if you're still reading this post I do apologize for giving you more information about my kitchen than you could have possibly wanted! You are a true friend to care about such details! I should also tell you in the interest of complete transparency (good friendships have that) that my kitchen is never that clean! I just cleaned up so the pics would really highlight all the great work Carson did. And didn't he do good?!

Pasaka Njema (happy easter)

Easter morning Jude dug into his first Easter basket.

Crayons!

We enjoyed the rest of the day with friends. We shared a meal of roast, potatoes, and carrots. We read the Easter story and watched some TV. We finished up with some ice cream, something many Tanzanians have never had. 

Easter is the biggest holiday here, but most of our guests aren't regular church goers. Steve, sitting next to Carson, is a 15 year old who grew up on the street with his Grandmother and was living on the streets of Geita until a few weeks ago when we got him into a rental room. He's been doing odd jobs for us for a few months. With the help of our other employees, Carson is helping him learn how to budget his paychecks and hopefully break free of the "street kid" mentality. It's a long road.

On this side of the table is Sumbu, his brother Elias and wife Esther.

 Sumbu and Esther's daughter Margaret was busy playing.

 Jude really enjoyed playing with Margaret. 

When she first arrived he kept kissing her, but she didn't seem to mind! They spent alot of time bouncing a ball and jumping up and down with it.

Project 52: pasta!

 This kid loves some pasta! Luckily he doesn't seem to notice when I sneak veggies, like spinach, into the sauce!

 Believe it or not, he did get more in his mouth than on his face!

 Pasta Over-Dose!

 Maybe there's room for just a little more...

All Done!

Opening Eyes...

I’m not a naturally positive person. 

Just the other day while reading through some uber-positive posts on Facebook I said to Carson that positivity exhausts me. I’m probably not supposed to admit things like that. As Christians aren’t we supposed to be positive? And here I am a missionary of all things. One thing I’ve learned is that being a missionary in no way makes me more likely to see the sunny side of life. In fact, if I let, it this place can actually make life seem so much more bleak. 

My neighbors don’t all live in concrete houses.

 Some live in little huts. And those are not even the poorest of the poor here. Health care is a joke that most can’t afford. Many can’t afford to go to school. And so what if you can. School rooms are packed full of 50, 60, even 70 children. How much one on one teaching do you think they get? How often do you think the teachers teach to different learning styles? That's not even the tip of the ice berg. Bleak. 

What I’m learning these days is that being positive has absolutely nothing to do with my surroundings or my job. Mostly it is about opening my eyes to God at work. Learning to see all the gifts around me.

“So here I am in the place of worship, eyes open, 

      drinking in your strength and glory. “

        -Psalm 63:2  The Message

If my eyes are open to see the gifts amidst the mess then everywhere becomes a place of worship as I thank God. And as it turns out when I keep my eyes open, the “drinking in your strength and glory” part just starts to come.

   “In your generous love I am really living at last! 

      My lips brim praises like fountains. 

   I bless you every time I take a breath; 

      My arms wave like banners of praise to you.”

-Psalm 63:3-4  The Message

I recently started following this blog by Ann Voskamp, author of One Thousand Gifts. I don’t know much about the book aside from what is on the blog about it. Can you believe the local book shops in Geita don’t carry it! Ha! I’ve got some friends getting me a copy, but in the meantime I’ve already started my own gratitude journal. I just write down the gifts, the beauty in everyday because of God’s hand. And the more I do, the more I notice, and the more I find myself in that place of worship.

It still doesn’t come naturally to me. The thankfulness, The positive attitude. Today, it was scarcely there at all. But as I sit here reflecting, sick husband asleep, rambunctious toddler asleep, I see it. I’m slowly opening my eyes to the day that was too long and seeing all the good in it...

78- Fahid who keeps coming back for help, giving us the opportunity to live it out.

79- A healthy, needy, stubborn toddler who loves us like crazy and does sleep eventually.

80- Jello from America

81- toliet paper

82- 2 loads of laundry, fully washed, fully dried.

83- 3 days in a row of power

84- teammates

85- a negative malaria test.

On my way to 1,000....

Team Month

March was team month here in Geita. We had extra meetings and get togethers. And of course we took a new team picture. 

Ta-Da!

It's not easy to get that many people to look at the camera at the same time! We finished off team month at the beginning of April with some special visitors. Dale Hawley did some team training with us back in the states and we were thrilled that he and his wife Vicki were able to do some follow up work with us in Geita. We really enjoyed having them and our time with them was very beneficial.

Project 52: Tools

Jude loves Carson's tools. Playing with them. Rearranging them. Using them for important work.

 And who wouldn't want to play in saw dust?

Here he is sticking a screw driver in a hole.

Look at that concentration!

He's pretty much a genius. At least we think so.  :)