Why I'm Sad Today

Last time we were in the states I helped out in the nursery one Sunday morning. I was dropping off Jude and about to head to my own class when Faye Cox asked if I could give her hand. I sat in a tiny chair made for a tiny kid between Jude and some other kids and watched as Jude had his first ever Sunday school experience. Faye pulled out all manner of props in teaching the kids including several things that I recognized from a time when I actually fit in those tiny chairs. 

I am so glad to have that memory. I hold it with the many, many, other memories I have of her.

Faye went home last night.

Please join me in praying for her family.

SurveyTrip and Potty Training

Carson left this morning along with Brett and the interns for a survey trip to Sumbawanga. I think a survey trip is a pretty standard part of an internship. It gives the interns a chance to see how to scout out a place in the future if they decide to head to the mission field long term. They will also be gathering info that could be useful to others considering different locations in Tanzania. 

Of course given the title of this post that means that I am potty training! Tomorrow we start PT bootcamp! I've read about different 1-day PT approaches and sort of adapted them to our situation. Of course I realize that it will not be done in 1 day, but I'm hoping some intense training can get us off to a good start. 

Moose is ready.

Yeah he's gonna demonstrate peeing in the potty with the help of a dropper.

And then he's going to have an accident. On his Fruit of the Looms.

Now I need to go work on the plastic pants I'm making from a ziplock bag for naps and nighttime. 

It's a glamorous life I lead.

prayer request

We have a friend who is currently having some marriage problems. The more I learn about some of the normal customs of Tanzanian marriage the angrier I am. Angry because Satan has taken something beautiful and turned it into something ugly. I suppose in some cases the same could be said for marriage in America. At any rate, Carson and I are pretty uncertain of what if anything we can do to help. If our friend does what culture dictates and EVERYONE is advising the marriage will end. Did I mention they have a newborn. I'm not really sure, but Postpartum Depression could be a factor. Please pray that God will bring peace and healing to this couple and that we will have the wisdom to help if possible.

Mbegu Films, filming Grace

Carson has spent months working on the storyline, characters, equipment, script, translation, etc for the short film, Grace. Today, filming begins and will continue for about a week. Here are a couple of pictures of Carson and Nik the Intern working with some of the actors yesterday afternoon.

Filming will not actually take place in front of my clothesline, just practice :)

4th of July

On the fourth our entire family was fighting a head cold. Carson downed some DayQuil and we managed to have a great time with our team and interns despite our congestion. Here are some pictures from the day.

soccer

hanging out

 static hair!

 Silas smiling at Kelcy

 Bocce Ball tournament (I won my first round, but didn't even score in the finals)

 Jude and Baylor watching the Bocce Ball tournament with Krista

 Baylor is just too cute!

 Harper chilling

 Silas opening his eyes from a nap

 The food was incredible and featured MEAT! Hamburgers, Steaks, Barbeque, and Ribs were enjoyed throughout the day. We ate more meat in one day than we normally do in a week!

Jude and Baylor enjoyed a favorite activity of toddlers: getting dirty!

Katelynn's birthday is the 3rd so we celebrated with a cake.

 And I finally managed to get a picture of all 4 of us! It only took almost 2 months!

One of our interns brought us the festive shirts.

We were all pretty worn out after such a full day. Jude cried through his bath and then fell asleep while I was putting his pajamas on! 

Neighborhood Kids

Last week I went for a walk for the first time since early in my last pregnancy. It was short, but as I got close to our house a few kids wanted me to walk with them as they went to get water. I pointed to my house and told them that I needed to get back home. They decided to escort me. They were really sweet so I sent them home with some extra muffins we had laying around. They said they would return the next day and I thought it would be nice to have them over to play with Jude so I agreed. There were only 3 of them. They did return the next day, but at a really inconvenient time so I told them to come back the next day. The next day the 3 kids had turned into 12! We got out a ball to play with, but most of them followed me around talking to me and touching my hair! A few of the younger ones did play with Jude a little, but I think he was overwhelmed by so many kids, as was I. Most of the kids had buckets with them and were headed to get water when they left our house. One started trying to fill his bucket from our spicket. It is just a spicket sticking out of the ground and I don't think he had any clue that this water was coming from a tank which Carson has to go buy water to fill. Anyway, I kept telling him to stop and he would stop and then start again 10 seconds later. At that point they had been their quite a while and I told them it was time to leave. As the kid with the full bucket of water approached the gate, Carson explained to him that we have to go get our water as well and it's not ok to take it. They've been coming back asking to play and I would love to let these kids play in our yard, but I'm just not sure I can handle so many at once. I'd love to figure out a way to let just a few at a time in to play with Jude and have a healthy snack, but I'm not sure how to approach that just yet. Here is a picture of some of the kids that Carson's mom took:

While they were playing one of the girls (maybe 7 years old?) picked up a glass soda bottle and walked around pretending she was drunk. Her performance was impressive from a theatrical standpoint. Obviously she has seen the real thing. This wasn't exactly a surprise, but the reality is still sad.