Project 52: Language

Jude is 14 months old now, and so far he has hit most of the baby milestones, (sitting up, crawling, walking, etc) on the early end of normal. I mean the kid was pretty much able to hold up his head when he was born! Of course he was quite late and quite big! Anyway, with speaking this has not been the case. He does occasionally try to repeat something we've just said, but the only things that he has said again later on his own are Mama, Dada, mo (more), and Taay Tuu (thank you said with the same inflection I use). You might think I'd be a little worried, but I'm actually not. Here's why: 

1- He's not actually "behind" yet, just not ahead of the game.

2- He seems to understand most of what we say.

3- He is able to follow 1 step and sometimes 2 step commands.

4- He is hearing both English and Swahili on a daily basis and it is typical for children learning 2 languages to bloom late in speech.

5- He can follow some directions given in Swahili.

6- He is able to sign the words more, eat (which he also uses for drink), and all done.

Here's Jude signing eat.

And here is more, or his version of it.

Language learning is just a little different when you are learning 2 languages at once!

Chicken

Today someone brought by a chicken (for a gift). Naturally, it was alive.

Carson: "I'm not sure what to do with this. The dogs will kill it."

Elias: "You could just keep it in your house."

Hmmm.

We had roast chicken and stuffing for dinner.

Project 52: Scrabble

Carson and I have a lot in common. We're both artists, we're both from middle Tennessee, we both love Chocolate, we both have one brother and one sister... but there is one area where we differ greatly. I am a game person and Carson is a movie person. Anytime, anywhere, I always want to play a good board game. You could even wake me in the middle of the night and I would seriously consider getting up for a good game. The only games I don't like are trivia games. Either you know the useless information or you don't, and I don't. Carson, on the other hand, enjoys games but rarely admits it and would ALWAYS prefer to watch a movie. These Project 52 posts are supposed to be a glimpse into Motherhood, so why exactly am I talking about this? I have discovered the perfect game for a mom of a little one with a husband who doesn't want to sit down and focus on a game: Travel Scrabble.

(it's not really so yellow in person. Check out the word retained near the top. That was Carson's move and it used all 7 of his tiles getting him 50 bonus points.)

We recently borrowed this travel version of the popular game from our teammates, the Harrisons. The tiles snap onto the board making it possible to fold the game up and come back to it later. It's also easy to move around, like passing it back and forth on the couch or moving it to the table when the kid starts fussing. It's great for Carson, because we can play while watching TV or doing other things and we don't have to sit down and finish a whole game all at once. It's great for Jude because he can't quickly move the tiles, and it doesn't keep us tied down to the table. Jude really hates when people do things at the table and he doesn't get to participate. And unlike a lot of other games it's not completely lame for just two players. So there you go, a game that is perfect for a "game loving" mom, "anti-game" Dad, and "into everything" toddler.

Serengeti

Carson just got back from a VERY quick (24 hours total) camping trip to the Serengeti with some visitors. They saw lots of great stuff and I just had to share some of the pictures he took. He hasn't had a chance to edit them yet, but I think they look pretty good.

Project 52: sick

We've all been sick this past week. It's the first time all three of us have been sick together and the first time Jude has had a stomach bug. Luckily, Jude was past the worst of his before Carson and I got really sick. Still, it was not fun!

Of course I didn't take any pictures of us sick, but here's a nice shot of the aftermath: laundry! (this isn't all of it, just a symbolic picture)

Jude has not yet learned to run to the bathroom when he's going to be sick, and the result is lots of laundry. I think one day he went through 5 shirts, 2 pairs of shorts, and 3 pairs of pants! 

Here's a shot of Jude helping out with the stain stick, wearing mismatched pjs of course!

We've all been well for several days now and are enjoying a nice Mother's Day at home.

Yes.

It's been over 2 years now since we moved to Tanzania. 

We had never been to any part of Africa, but felt sure that God could use us here and that He wanted to. That He was calling us to this place, for this time, for something. I wish I could tell you that it is now perfectly clear exactly what we are doing here and that we have made huge strides toward our goals. We've certainly been busy. We've started so many things, but really we haven't finished any. We've learned a great deal of Swahili, but we are still learning. We've done a lot of work on our house and just learning to live here. The house is our home, but it's not finished. We've begun many relationships and some have grown, but none have resulted in obvious life change.

We came with dreams of how we might use our skills to help the people of Geita, and as we've learned about culture and this place our dreams have adapted, morphed into something that we hope is more realistic, more possible, more appropriate. Sometimes it's a bit frustrating as we continue to beat out the details of what we want to do here, but it's also nice that we still sit on the couch after Jude is in bed and dream. Sometimes we lay in bed at night, needing to go to sleep, but needing more to talk through some new idea or new relationship and where it might go. 

Working in another culture, another world, is slow. People told us it would be, but we thought if we just worked hard it didn't have to be. It's still slow. And on the really slow days it's easy to wonder what we are doing here. Easy to want to know the end, how it will all come together, and what God will do through us here. But, what if it's not about that.

I read this blog post today over at gitzen girl and it really struck me. 

Honestly, I hope you'll read the post for yourself, but in it she writes about Noah, doing the insane task of building a boat on dry land before a drop of rain fell, just because God told Him to. He trusted God enough to do that. And in the end the rain came, showing that Noah was right. But, she asks the question:

"would he have been less right if it never rained?"

Is doing the thing that God calls us to less right if we never see the full point of it all?

I want to know that by the time we leave Geita we'll be able to see what God did through us, and know exactly why He brought us here. That we will finish the task he has set before us, but he might not have sent us to finish. That's His business. 

"Because we don't all live to see the rain. We don't all live to see the benefit. We don't all get to know if there even is a benefit.

But, if we really trust Him, our thirst can be quenched in the simple decision of YES."