Busy and Resting

The past few months have been really busy. I found myself waking up in the middle of the night with so many things on my mind that needed to get done. I would go into work super early and leave super late and still wake up with my “to do” list running through my mind.
I taught a four-day seminar at Eli’s church in December and enjoyed the blessing of having Michelle come and visit us here for three weeks, going over all our bookkeeping and helping us to be more efficient.
All the kids were home from school for the whole month of December and during that time I helped get Eli and our three boys prepare to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. After they came back from climbing my office looked like a mountain climbers’ bomb went off in there. I spent the next few days sorting EVERYTHING into three piles: 1. Rented equipment 2. Equipment borrowed from a friend who lives here in TZ 3. Loaned equipment from the porters’ association. I washed everything and returned it.

We celebrated Christmas in our TOA fashion by going to church in the morning, coming home and enjoying an amazing meal together and spending the evening giving gifts and having a time of worship and devotion.

In Tanzania the new school year begins in January so as soon as New Years rolls around that is when I know there is a big work in store for me. This year we have 20 kids attending school. It is no small thing getting 20 kids prepared for a new school year. Besides purchasing their school supplies we have to go through all the kids’ uniforms one at a time and see who needs a new one, or needs one repaired or maybe can take a hand-me-down from someone who has outgrown their old one. Then we have to make notes about which uniforms will be taken to the tailor and write notes and sizes for those kids who need new uniforms.
Once the kids return to school there is a sense of relief that so much has been accomplished. But that relief lasts until the kids return from their first day of school with a list of things that they must have. I do my best to get all their supplies for them: pencils, pens, erasers, pencil sharpener, ruler, mathematical set, exercise books, etc. But there is always something more and I end up going back to purchase more supplies again.

This year at Christmas Jodie and I were each blessed with a financial Christmas gift. Since moving here we have talked about taking a vacation but we just didn’t have the time or money to do it. Well, this year we decided that since we had our Christmas money that we would make the time.
Last weekend we went to a coffee farm about an hour and a half from where we live. This coffee farm is run by a family who built eight beautiful cottages for visitors. We made our reservation and once the kids were all set and ready to return to school we left for a couple of days.

I should write a blog entry just about our time there because it was so wonderful. The day we arrived I took a LONG hot bath in the HUGE tub and took a nap. Jodie and I brought tennis shoes to walk around and explore but I was too busy resting. I read and napped and read and ate and napped and relaxed. Our cottage had a porch where we would eat breakfast and then sit for a long time and just enjoy the beauty all around us. I slept so good each night and did not wake up thinking about anything that needed to be done. We returned on Sunday at 6pm and went straight to TOA. Eli was preparing a wonderful meal for the kids to thank them for a great 2011 school year and to kick off a great 2012 school year. I was so happy to see everyone and Jodie and I stayed and helped serve the food.

What an amazing few months it has been. When I was on my mini-vacation I spent time thanking the Lord for His grace that I have seen throughout my life. Every morning when I wake up I ask the Lord for grace for whatever the day holds for me. I ask the Lord to be my strength and to help me to keep my heart focused on Him. I don’t want to frustrate myself trying to do things in my own strength. I don’t want to try to figure things out when the Lord is on my side and He has an answer for all my questions.

The past few months have been fun, busy, a lot of work, exhausting, and amazing. I have seen the faithfulness of the Lord and I have been encouraged even more that He is interested in all the details of our lives. The kids are growing up so fast and I want to enjoy them and this time together. I don’t want to miss out on any moments because I was so caught up in something instead of devoting myself to trusting the Lord for the answer.
Life gets really busy here sometimes, but God is always moving and loving and providing and blessing and encouraging.

Happy Birthday Mom!

This Sunday (Nov 27) is my mom's birthday. In honor of my mom I wanted to post my Mother's Day message that I wrote on my "Facebook Notes" this past Mother's Day, May 2011.
This time last year I was home visiting my mom. She was recovering from knee replacement surgery, but she was quite a trooper...even the surgeon was pleased with her progress.
I love my mom and thank the Lord for her love and support.
So here's to my mom!!! Hip Hip Hooray and Happy Birthday Mom...love you so much!!!

I am in Tanzania for another Mother's Day and this evening I will attempt to call my mom to tell her that I love her...if the phone network here in TZ allows me to get through.

So this morning I was thinking about my mom and growing up and life and learning. When I was growing up I didn't appreciate my mom the way I do today. It seems the older I get the more I understand and appreciate so many things in my life.

I thought I'd list of few of the things that I just love about my mom:

1. Thanks mom for being such a strong woman! The strength she carries in her continues to amaze me even as a grown adult! I love it...love, love, love it! I was home last Oct/Nov and watched my mom recover from knee replacement surgery...she battled hard! She inspires me!

2. Growing up all my friends would tell me, "Your mom is so fun." She is a ton of fun! She is waaaaaay more competitive than I am and when we have "game night" at my Aunt Josie's house she is INTENSE about to winning! But she loves to have fun and I love that about her. I am much more serious than she is so I really have come to appreciate her fun personality!!!

3. The woman loves to pray! My mom accepted the Lord in her heart more than 20 years ago and her fervor for God's Word and prayer have only grown. She will pray for someone in need as long as it takes to see the breakthrough in their lives. This is the woman I've got in my corner praying for me daily! Yep! I'm blessed!!!

4. There is only one road for my mom and that is the road of faith! One of my favorite things about my mom is her faith in God. She doesn't let outward circumstances sway her from what God's Word says. She holds to His Word and prays it over each and every situation. People of faith move mountains! Oh yeh...she's moving mountains for the kingdom of God from her prayer room!

5. Her heart of compassion amazes me. When I was a teenager I would get stomach flu quite often and it would result with me vomiting and lying in bed with a fever for days. My memories of those days is my mom making her mint tea (she grew the mint leaves) and standing over me crying and praying and speaking words of love and encouragement...still stirs my heart today when I think about those days.

But my mom's heart of compassion goes way beyond just that. I can remember growing up and having people from the convalescent home over to our house for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. I remember going to the convalescent home and delivering pizzas. Stopping the car and giving homeless people food. Going over to the house of an elderly person and bringing them some food and praying for them.

Growing up we had all sorts of injured animals at our house that she would nurse back to life. Even now my mom feeds all kinds of stray animals that will let her touch them but no one else.

When Anjela died (Anjela was one of our Treasures at Treasures of Africa Children's Home) in January 2010 my mom called me and we grieved together over the loss of that sweet girl. My mom never met Anjela but she mourned the loss of Anjela with me as if she had lost one of her own grandchildren. That meant the world to me!

6. My mom understands me and all my quirkiness. My mom just stands there or waits in the car patiently for me time and time again when I run back in the house four times because I forgot my sweater, left my sandwich on the counter, need to use the restroom one more time, have to finish a phone call and all that nonsense that I do EVERY time we are together (from the time I can remember up to now). I remember one time about 10 years ago telling my mom, "I'm sorry for being so frustrating." Her response to me was, "You are not frustrating. You’re my Lydia D." She knows me! I am odd in so many ways but that doesn't seem to phase her one bit!!! :)


This is just a small list of wonderful things about my mom. It warms my heart to think of her and I look forward to seeing her when I come home for visits. She comes to the airport to pick me up with a homemade burrito in her hand!!! Anyone who knows my mom knows her burritos!!! YUM!

All the way from Tanzania I'm thinking about you mom!!!

My Thankful Post

I have noticed people have been posting things they are thankful for (one thing for each day) this month of November. I have enjoyed reading them. It got me thinking about being thankful. Since it is too late for me to write one thing for each day this month that I am thankful for, I have decided to list 30 things all at once.
Here I go:
1. So thankful for God’s Word and salvation through Jesus Christ my Lord. Words cannot express the joy I have in Him!
2. Thankful for that day when I was nine years old and a patient in San Fernando Hospital and the girl (Janet) in the room across from mine came over to my room in the middle of the night because I was coughing non-stop and she prayed for me. Then she shared with me God’s plan of salvation through His Son Jesus. I prayed to receive Jesus as my Savior that night…the best decision I have ever made!
3. My heart is always filled with thanks for the blessing of being a part of the lives of the children here at Treasures of Africa Children’s Home.
4. Since my dad’s birthday is November 4th I will mention him on #4. What can a girl say about the best dad ever? Even when he was alive I thanked God everyday for him because I knew he was such a special man! I continue to thank the Lord for my dad.
5.and 6.and 7. My siblings Al, Red, H.A. Always thankful for my brothers and my sister. The last time I was in CA visiting we were all together…first time in a long time. I am the youngest and Al and Loretta have always done the older sibling thing and I have sweet memories of them “looking after me.” H.A. and I, being two years apart hung out when we were young like siblings do. We are all grown up and each of them has a special place in my heart.
8. This might sound odd but I am thankful for camping. So many memories with so many family members! All my aunts, uncles, cousins and friends together and playing, singing, swimming, eating, laughing…going with my parents growing up and then even as an adult.
9. My heart has a smile when I remember the old youth group days! My cousins and those crazy Cabrera boys and oh so many memories! When I go home on visits my cousin Chrissy and I love to reminisce. Street witnessing, all night prayer, youth group, etc. So thankful for those days!
10. The blessing to be able to attend college. My parents sacrificed a lot so I could get a degree.
11. I love teaching. I was an elementary school teacher for 17 years before moving to Tanzania. I LOVED it. What a blessing to love something so much and get paid for it! 
12. Blessed and thankful to be a member of faith-filled church. At every stage in my spiritual walk I have been blessed to not only attend but to be involved with churches where trusting God for the impossible was always the way to live!
13. So thankful for my friend Freya. She has taught me more through our friendship then she’ll ever know. I am a better person because of the blessing of having her as a friend.
14. So many cousins…not enough numbers to list them or room to write all that I am thankful for!!!
15. The grace to drive in a foreign country…seriously! I can flow with a lot of the nonsense here and I KNOW it is God’s grace!
16. Mr. Washington my 4th grade teacher.
17. Dr. Baldwin at Vanguard always made me feel like I was meant to do great things in this life…loved that man!
18. The way mom keeps sending me boxes one after another with all my favorite things! A person doesn’t get tired of that!
19. Skyping with Freya…she always makes time…even at dark-thirty in the morning!
20. Praying with friends. Those times make my heart thankful everyday!
21. Kathleen Curto…Was blessed to work for her for just two short years. She was amazing in so many ways and she doesn’t even know it!
22. My dog Puppy. We had lots of animals growing up but Puppy (I wasn’t so creative naming him) was my very own dog. He was a good dog and I loved him. I spent lots of time playing with him when I was growing up.
23. Eli, the assistant director here at Treasures of Africa Children’s Home. He is grace defined and he has shown more grace to me than I deserve…my heart is so thankful.
24. Pastor Kioko has a gift for listening, encouraging and blessing.
25. Cooking with Jodie…it is part of our therapy…only Jodie fully understands what I mean here!!! But I am seriously thankful.
26. Pastor Ella spoke some words of wisdom to me that I treasured in my heart and to this day I am so thankful.
27. I only waited for #27 to mention my mom because her birthday is November 27. I wrote a “note” about my mom on Mother’s Day on my Facebook “notes” that I think I will post on my blog on her birthday. She is an amazing woman and I love her dearly.
28. and 29. I have so many wonderful family members. I am so thankful for my Aunt Josie and my Aunt Lily. Aunt Josie, so fun and always a joy to be around…great stories (like my mom) from growing up! Aunt Lily, a woman who loves the Lord and inspires me! I love going home for a visit and spending time with her and Chrissy!!!
30. Thankful for the love that God has for me. He loves unconditionally and without measure.

Not Sure What Title to Give This Adventure!

I like writing about living here in Tanzania. Most of my days involve the children and work at Treasures of Africa Children’s Home. But this week I went outside of my normal “comfort” zone and had an unforgettable adventure!

How do I describe my adventure this week? Hmmm…
Let me put it this way – Now I know how those chickens that I see here all tied up together and thrown in a basket on the back of a bicycle feel.

OK, let me back up. This is how my week started out: Jodie and I traveled by bus with Pastor Zablon to Dar es Salaam where the American Embassy is located. Pastor Zablon had an interview at the American Embassy to get a Visa to travel to the U.S. We went with him to assist in any way possible because this was a totally new experience for him.
We left Monday morning at 7am and took an Express “luxury” coach/bus. It wasn’t American luxury but by African standards it was nice. We were content and although the ride took 8 ½ hours it went by rather fast and without much to write about.

The following morning we went to the American Embassy for Pastor Zablon’s appointment. Knowing that the last buses returning to our home town of Moshi were leaving at noon we knew we were cutting it close to catching a bus back to Moshi.
We exited the Embassy with joy as Pastor Zablon was granted a Visa to go to the U.S.
But an unexpected twist came up: Pastor Zablon’s Visa would not be ready to be picked up until the following day after 2pm. This presented a problem. We did not have enough money to stay in Dar two extra days. So as we discussed what to do the clock was ticking closer to noon and the buses were leaving. Finally it was agreed that Jodie and I would return to Moshi and leave Pastor Zablon to pick up his Visa the following day. The hard work was done…getting the Visa, so we all agreed that Jodie and I should leave.

We jumped in the taxi and rushed to the bus station, but the drive to the bus station was long and slow because the traffic in Dar is horrendous. By the time we arrived the majority of the buses had already left. There wasn’t much to choose from and nothing luxury was still around. Our taxi driver helped us find the one bus that was left going to Moshi. We ran! We paid for our ticket and jumped on the bus. The bus driver directed us to two seats together so we sat down. The moment we sat we knew this ride was going to be different from our luxury bus ride to Dar. The seats we were sitting in were about half the size of our luxury bus seats, but at least they were together and sort of towards the front. Within minutes an older man boarded the bus and started yelling at us to get out of his seat. We thought he just wanted to switch with us for the seats directly behind so we kind of ignored him, but he persisted and the bus driver came over and looked at our tickets and told us to get out of the older man’s seat. The bus driver pointed towards the back of the bus and told us our seats were back there. We stood up and looked back but did not see two seats in the back. But because people were pushing and yelling at us we got up and moved back.
One side of the bus had two seats together. The other side of the bus had three seats together. Our seats at the back of the bus were on the side with three seats. An African woman with healthy hips was sitting by the window in our row and taking up her seat and half of one of our seats. Because my legs are so long Jodie graciously sat in the middle seat. But because Jodie only had half a seat she sat in part of my seat. I sat down but technically only half of me made it on the seat. The seat in front of me was broken and reclined on top of my legs. The backing of the seat in front of me had no cushion so when the man who was assigned to that seat sat down my knees lodged into his lower back. I had to turn my body so my legs were completely in the aisle. The woman directly across from me whose legs fit very comfortably in her seat space insisted on having her right leg in the aisle so that I couldn’t put mine there. And of course the non-stop traffic of people going up and down the aisle forced me to return my legs into the lower back of the man in front of me.

Every time we came to a weigh station about 10 people sitting at the back of the bus were told by the bus driver to stand in the aisle and come forward and crouch down. I found out after about the third time they did this that they were distributing the weight on the bus and if the police found out what was going on they would have been in trouble. So we made about five weigh station stops and each time the people got up and stood in the aisle they literally crushed my legs.
The bus would slow down quite a bit and let young teenage boys who were vendors come on board to sell snacks. This was torturous for me and my legs as they walked up and down the aisle. After about an hour the man sitting in front of me could not take it any longer and he complained loud enough to get the bus driver’s attention and the bus driver allowed the man to move to the front of the bus and he sat in a spot that wasn’t technically a seat.
But after that man left another person came within minutes who sitting behind us and took his seat. So my situation remained the same.

We rode on and on and on like this. The bus stopped briefly multiple times, but never long enough for anyone to get off. The minutes ticked away slowly. I was sitting in a VERY THINLY PADDED seat with half my bottom on it and a metal bar that stuck out the back of the seat and jammed into my back.
Jodie sat crammed between me and an African woman who was under the impression that Jodie’s lap was there for her to set her bags on. The position Jodie was locked into was almost as if she were hugging herself and unable to move her arms…arms crossed, shoulders raised and no where to go.

After about three and a half hours of sitting like this we came to a stop and the woman next to Jodie purchased roasted corn on the cob through the bus window. I hadn’t eaten since 8am and it was now about 3:30pm. I took one look at that corn, handed Jodie some money and we asked that lady to order us some corn and two waters. Within a minute she handed them to us and we felt like we were just handed the best snack in the world. We were so happy to eat our corn. We were hungry and dehydrated and that corn and water were at that moment the best thing since apple pie!!!
We were giddy! I took out my phone and snapped photos of us enjoying our corn (the photo at the beginning of this blog is an actual photo taken on the bus). After eating our corn and drinking our water we were content for a time. But as the hours dragged on and the continual leg crushing in the aisle continued and the metal bar in my back dug deeper, we began to feel the toll of the bus ride…not to mention the fact that this bus was not stopping for us to get off for a potty break. It rolled on and on, stopping quite often but not long enough to let us get off. This bus ride just never seemed to end.

Finally after 7 ½ hours the bus stopped for a break. We had 10 minutes to use the restroom and purchase something to eat. The food that was being sold was scary, but Jodie and I were so hungry and slightly delirious at that point that we purchased food and ate it.
We boarded the bus after our brief stop and by that time the sun had set. Now you have to understand that Africans don’t like to be cold and when it turns dark all windows that are down all go up. So as the bus rolled on everyone slammed their windows closed. It didn’t take long for the inside of the bus to turn into an oven. Mix our oven bus with various odors floating around and not able to escape due to no fresh air circulation and that equals a bad case of nausea. Place on top of that bad food at our 10 minute stop and the next three hours were quite miserable.

Culturally buses stop when there are people on the side of the road who need a ride. The last four hours of our trip our bus kept stopping over and over and over picking up people and the bus kept filling up with bodies. There already were no available seats on the bus so all these people just stood in the aisle. An already crowded bus was beyond crowded. At one point all I could do was picture myself throwing open a window and vomiting. I was so tired, in physical pain and now nauseous. Come to find out after we got home, Jodie felt the same way too. We were literally holding on to our sanity by the grace of God.
Jodie had her electronic Yahtzee game in her purse. She tried to play it but her arms couldn’t reach enough to see the game so she had to put it away. All we did was sit and stare out the window. Thank the Lord for the beauty in Africa because the view was lush green all around us.
10 ½ hours later we reach our destination: Moshi!!! I’d never been so happy to exit a vehicle! That bus ride made all our other public transportation experiences seem like nothing…and we’ve had some doozies! We once rode in an 8 person van with 22 people, two goats and 10 bags of cement with a naughty music video playing at deafening volume. Thinking about that bus ride now seems like nothing compared to the 10 ½ hours we just endured!

We arrived home late at night but so thankful to be home.
So there you go! Another adventure!
I am so happy to be home!!!

TRYING to Explain a Regular Week

So this past week has been bit African regular/American crazy…which means most of what I planned didn’t happen but I got lots of stuff done and had many unexpected surprises along the way!!!
Many family and friends from home ask me what a regular day or week for me looks like. I try to explain that things don’t always go as planned and the unexpected can become part of our daily routine often times.
So with that in mind here are a few highlights from my week:

• The vehicle that we have been using (which isn’t really ours but we are “looking after it” for our friend Wes) is being used right now by his daughter in law, who is here in TZ. Soooooooo, I will venture to say that I have logged about 25 walking miles in the last week…all unplanned but necessary because in Africa people often call you at the last minute and need you to come to them right away!
• Keeping with that theme of us having no vehicle – it has rained A LOT over the past week and there is sooooooo much mud all over so we had to walk on the main road (the mud on the dirt road as we exit our house was too deep and thick) carrying our trash (lots of trash in boxes) because the trash was smelling up our kitchen and we don’t have trash service at our house and we refuse to light gigantic burn piles and burn our trash in our yard. I did not enjoy carrying that smelly trash but at least that smell from the trash is no longer in our kitchen. Also walking on the maid road offers its own challenges the way people drive around here!
• Our refrigerator broke AGAIN and we called the repairman who came to our house and “fixed” it but then that evening it was still broken. Then Jodie called him again and he said he would come back the next so she waited for him all day (literally about 6 hours). Finally he called and said he wouldn’t be able to come until the following day. So she waited the following day and he didn’t come…but he promised to come the following day after that and guess what? NO SHOW! So he finally showed up on Saturday morning at 8am and low and behold that morning when we woke up to take everything out of the fridge we noticed everything inside the fridge was cold…he he! Go figure! He showed up and our fridge wasn’t broken any more. All our food had gone bad all week when it wasn’t working, but our fridge works now!
• We had electricity four days last week! Can’t remember the last time that happened. All week my computer was charged and my phone too! Then the power went out on Friday night around 8pm and was out all night and I didn’t mind at all because I was still so giddy from having power for four days straight!
• Jodie and I found out about an outdoor market that sells veggies grown by Catholic Nuns. We were told it opens at 7am and that we should be there early because it is quite a popular spot. So we woke up extra early and walked to the market (remember no vehicle) and guess what? The man at the gate said we were an hour early…yep! So we walked home and then walked back later. It was a nice market with cabbage the size of three heads put together! We also got some corn and had corn on the cob for dinner that evening! Yeah! That was a fun treat!
• So since the cabbages were so big at that market I thought it would be a great idea to buy a couple of them for TOA. We carried the cabbages to our house and then I walked to TOA and drove the TOA van back to my house to pick up the cabbages because they were really too big and heavy to carry there! I took them to TOA and showed our cook and asked him what he thought. He said he didn’t like them because they were so big and that they were too big for him. I told him I didn’t understand what he was talking about since big cabbages would mean more cabbage to eat and he said they were too powerful. Hmmm, I am still trying to figure that out!
• Ok, so a couple days later I had a follow up conversation with the cook at TOA regarding what he meant when he said the big cabbages I bought were too powerful. Eli was with me this time. So in an effort to explain what he meant the cook said the cabbages had too much stamina and that is why he didn’t like them. Eli looked at me when he said that and burst out laughing and then he asked me, “What does ‘stamina’ mean?” I told him that in relation to our conversation regarding the big cabbages that I have no idea. I am done trying to figure that one out!!!
• Jodie and I made chocolate éclairs this week. Last Saturday we walked about five miles to a “yard sale” and there were some Taste of Home magazines, 2006 editions. So we bought four of them. We were so excited to experiment with so many of the recipes. We made chocolate éclairs, potato and leek soup and mocha cappuccinos. On our “next thing to try to make” list is: chicken and broccoli casserole, apple crisp, glazed carrots, and good morning buns.
• I know I just mentioned the chocolate éclairs but I didn’t mention that they didn’t exactly come out like the beautiful photo on the magazine. Jodie turned her back on them when the dough came out of the oven, but I trudged on and completed the job of piping in the “custard” filling and glazing them with a warm chocolate sauce. Jodie wanted us to use the “custard” filling for cement on the brick wall at the new TOA property. I can’t really describe the way the pastry dough looked once it came out of the oven and cooled but I can tell you that something went terribly wrong. Taste of Home people would not have been proud of our éclairs.
• I got a good workout this week! Between the rain that has created MASSIVE mud and my flip flops that seem to be mud magnets, and all the walking I have been doing…the mud sticks to my flip flops so that it feels like as I am walking that I am wearing platform shoes and all that mud is quite heavy so I am getting cardio and doing weight lifting at the same time!!!

Rambling About All Sorts of Randomness

Ok so there are days/weeks when life seems to be filled with such randomness all around me and I just wonder how these things can seem so “normal” to me when five years ago they would not have seemed that way at all. Well I guess that means that I am more settled in here to life in Tanzania than I realize. I have been making mental notes in order to share a few things from the past few weeks.
Here are a few:
1. There is a hedgehog pancake outside my front gate. Someone ran over a hedgehog in front of my gate…maybe it was me; maybe it was Jodie…can’t go blaming anyone at this point, right? The point is that this hedgehog pancake has turned into a magnet for all kinds of large, black, flying creatures…and it smells really bad!
2. Our grass is dead and it is not a pretty sight. I don’t know why our guard during the day, who by the way knows it is his job to water the lawn and keep it nice, isn’t doing his job and now our lawn looks really, really bad. We bought a new hose and everything. I asked our guard about it and he says he is on top of it…what exactly does he mean by that?
3. We have two cats at the orphanage. They used to belong to Jodie and me but there was a slight rat issue at the orphanage so we moved the cats (their names are Mr. Darcy and Cupcake) to the orphanage. The only problem is that Mr. Darcy doesn’t like to eat anything that I don’t feed him myself…I kind of spoiled him when he was living at my house. The workers at the orphanage all find it amusing how Mr. Darcy chases after the van when I drive into the orphanage. I find it embarrassing the way he meows at me non-stop asking me for food…yikes! I have created an annoying kitty!!!!
4. So I mentioned the slight rat issue in the above #3 like it is really a slight rat issue…is a rat issue ever a slight issue? Apparently it can be! I have had a rat run by my foot and once one ran in my office when I was at my desk working and I screamed and it literally did a 180 degree turn as I was screaming and ran out…that was kinda fun in a creepy, yucky kind of way!
5. It was raining the other morning and the vehicle I was driving was dripping water all over my lap and head and hands as I was driving and I just thought how it would be a good idea to put a plastic bag on my lap the next time…didn’t even give that nonsense a second thought.
6. The power was out last week and I had to make a photo copy of something so I drove all over town for more than an hour and stopped at least six or seven different places until I found a place with electricity and a copy machine that was working…because both of those things are hard to find sometimes. I got my copy made and then guess what? I did it again today! Yep, no power again and yep, driving around all over town until I was successful…the joy I feel in one photocopy!!!
7. Vehicle broke down last week…THREE TIMES! One of the three times we were stranded an hour outside of town for more than three hours. Pastor Kioko, Pastor Dave and Jodie were there so I enjoyed hanging out with them. Rita was there too with Clair Lee and Eli but they waved down a vehicle passing by and hitched a ride to town because they had a meeting to get to. We were still sitting on the side of the road when they were finished with their meeting so they got a ride back to the broken-down vehicle and then within 30 minutes it was running again. Rita treated us all to a very nice dinner when we made it back to town!!!

A Non-Africa Blog...Thinking About My Dad

It has been a long time since my earthly father passed away. I still think about him all the time. I have said many times to lots of people that he was one of the most important people in my life. I still believe that he was the best dad of all dads!

Last week Jodie, my co-worker here with me in TZ, had a dream, and she told me that my dad was in her dream. I thought that was really cool. I have photos of my parents so she knows what my dad looked like but she never knew him when he was alive. I have told Jodie many things about my dad so when she told me about her dream it made me smile.
I love the memories I have of my dad growing up. I love that the last day I spent with him we hugged three different times throughout the day and I sat on his lap and told him I loved him and made him an ice cream sundae with his favorite ice cream for dessert after dinner. It wasn’t any sort of a special day…just a regular day for us.

I am not sure why I am feeling so sentimental about my dad…well, I know why I am feeling sentimental – I miss that man – but not sure why I am putting it all on a blog.
I realize that after all these years I can think of one of my “dad memories” and it still makes me smile, laugh, and feel so extremely loved by him. He deposited so much in me that I am still full from his love.
So many of my fun “dad” memories come from camping…so many of them! One that I think of a lot was the time when I walked back to our campsite and seeing my cousin Cathy sitting on my dad’s lap while he was sitting in one of his camping chairs under a tree reading a book. I asked Cathy what she was doing sitting with my dad and she told me that she wanted to enjoy him the way I do. That spoke something so strong and sweet in me…my dad is wonderful and I am not the only one who loves just being with him!

The last time I was in CA for a visit and I went to the dentist for a check-up the dentist and his asst shared a fun memory they have of my dad. In fact so did the receptionist. They made my day! He left an impression on so many people who knew him, but for me he did so much more. I am so blessed because of him.

My dad loved to laugh and tell those goofy jokes that don’t really make sense. He loved to sing songs that he made up from the tune of well-known songs. He loved to play ping-pong and my brothers liked to challenge him. He enjoyed reading. Whenever he picked up milk from 7-11 he always came back with Slurpees for us. He enjoyed my mother’s cooking and preferred it to eating out. We never opened our gifts on Christmas morning until my dad had his coffee in his hand. He enjoyed wearing slippers inside and out. On Saturday mornings when he went through the mail and wrote the bills he called the trash “file K” as he threw the junk mail in there. He loved to sit and chat. When I was growing up and went through a growth spurt and it seemed that all at once I was too tall for everything, my dad sat on my bed with me and held me as I cried and he whispered to me how beautiful I was to him.

To this day I still thank my Heavenly Father for my earthly father.