18 Months

A week ago Eli turned 18 months. A year and a half. Sometimes it seems like he is older. I think he is entering his terrible twos early. He is becoming a bit naughty - not listening and obeying, being stubborn, throwing tantrums, etc. I think it's all normal. He is great most of the time, but when he is tired, his naughty side comes out. Fortunately, we are consistent and he gets over things quickly. Despite the few challenges he is now bringing, he really is a delight and I love him more and more as he grows.

He is talking up a storm. Every day he surprises us with the new words he knows. One word he says all the time is "sweets." That is what they call candy here. There is a small duka by our house that sells lollipops. We have walked there a few times to buy one for him. (Thanks to the December team, he discovered Tootsie Roll Pops and knows what sweets are.) Whenever we pass it, he points and says "weets, weets." He is now connecting two or more words. In the morning he says "Nala... pee pee" meaning we need to let know outside to go to the bathroom. He says a few things in Kiswahili too. Mtoto is the word for baby or child. When he sees a kid, he points and says "toto." At church on Sunday, when one of the kids weht to the bathroom, he said "toto... pee pee." As you can see, he is very aware of bodily functions!


Lately, here are his likes:

Cleaning - he loves to sweep, mop, and wipe surfaces with cloths.

Rain - When it rains, it is so exciting to him. He shouts "Wain!"



(Watching the rain)

Cars and Dinosaurs - He is all boy.



(Dancing in his new Dinosaur slippers from Grandma)

Climbing - On everything!



Playing outside - bringing him in usually results in tears

Drumming - He is OBSESSED with singing and drumming. We bought him a little drum and he uses sticks from trees as drum sticks. Right now, his favorite song is a Swahili song from church. It says " Ni wewe, Ni wewe bwana, Ni wewe, Ni wewe bwana." Often he can be heard playing his drum on the patio singing "wewe.... wewe....." It's adorable. Last Sunday, he went to sit next to Glory at church who was playing the drum (the only instrument) during hymns. When she got up to help sing the faster songs with pre-recorded music, Eli thought he would get to play the drum. When the music started, he looked up and burst into tears, absolutely devastated that he wasn't providing the drum music. It wasn't a tantrum, he just was crushed! Poor guy. He went full on silent crying. You know it's bad when they go silent. George took him outside and when they came back in, Eli looked at the drum and started crying again.

Eli is still super friendly. I call him the mayor of Moshi because he is constantly waving to people. Some he knows, others are strangers. Everywhere we go, people know him. They don't know our names, but they know his. If I go somewhere without him, people ask... "where is Eli?"

Fun month!

Our camera batteries died a while ago so I haven't been able to take many photos this past month.

Starting on the Land

We are starting to proceed with the process to buy the orphanage land. It's a daunting task and George is just now getting started. We found a great location, a reasonable price and have talked with the owner several times. Now we have to work on checking out the title deed and doing all the back ground checks. Most important, we have to find an honest lawyer who will help us for a fair price. We are praying hard the Lord goes before us and paves the way. Please pray with us!

Fun Sunday

Yesterday we had a really fun Sunday. It began with a nice service at church. George talked about judgement. Specifically, not judging others and remembering that we are accountable for our own actions. He was able to do it in a way that wasn't harsh, but in a way that was encouraging. It challenged us to really think about our actions and how they honor or don't honor the Lord. It was good.

The service also marked a new phase in parenting for us. Teaching Eli to sit in the service. Normally, George hangs out with him during the beginning of the service, during the hour long time of singing. They go in and out depending on Eli's attention span. Then, I take over while George preaches. By then it's Eli's normal nap time so I push him in the stroller until he falls asleep and then I sit outside listening to the teaching, rocking the stroller. Last week, much to my frustration, Eli refused to sleep in the stroller and didn't sleep until we got home at 1:45. I ended up taking him to the pastor's house while we waited for the service to end.

This week, we decided not to fight him on it. If he wasn't going to sleep, then it was time to teach him to sit quietly in church. So once George started teaching, I got out Eli's books, colored pencils and a piece of paper. He did pretty well for his first time. I was impressed. He sat next to me quietly coloring and reading. Once he got a little antsy, we went outside the church and sat on the benches to color more. Then we headed back in the church for a bit more where he entertained himself quietly. And then we ended up outside again until church was over. Little by little, I think he will learn that it's church time and not play time.

After church, Eli took a two and a half hour nap! George and I rested too. Then we got ready for a birthday party. We have befriended a Muslim family who own a little coffee shop near the main grocery store in town. They have a son who just turned three and another son who is around seven months old. We see them often when we go to the store and sometimes stop for a quick drink or snack. Eli and their oldest son like to play together. So, they invited us to his birthday party. I should also mention that they are of Indian descent. Did you know there are a ton of Indians living in East Africa? I don't know how they came to be there, but they make up a big part of the population in Kenya and Tanzania. I have now learned that Indians know how to throw awesome parties. We were honored to be invited.

We arrived 20 minutes late and laughed when we saw the only other person there was the other American that was invited! We should have known everyone else would be on African time. Eventually everyone showed up. They had the party on the roof top deck of an Indian restaurant (Deli Chez for those who have been here!). I would guess about 75 people were there. The food was awesome (yummy lamb meatballs, chicken curry and rice, spring rolls, fries and a chocolate cake.) Many of the women were dressed in beautiful saris and fun Indian music was playing in the background. Guess what the theme of the party was? Spiderman! I guess Spiderman transcends cultures! I don't know where they got the decorations. Perhaps they came in the mail. There were red and blue balloons, party hats and Spiderman masks. Then there was face painting. Eli was so patient while he got a mask painted on. I wish my camera batteries weren't dead! We had a blast. We left at 6:30 to put ELi to bed, but I am sure it went on much later. Birthdays aren't normally celebrated in a big way (often not acknowledged at all) so it was fun to be at a party like that. It's also neat to become more and more a part of the community in Moshi.

Kenyan Dinner Party

Now that we have been here a while, we are starting to meet more people, including many Kenyans working here. George has connected with a group of them and we have enjoyed spending time with them. I call them the Kenyan Brigade. They are all here for different reasons, but are all available to help if anyone needs anything. It's just nice to be a part of a community and not feel so isolated. That is an answered prayer for sure.

Recently, people have been taking turns hosting the group at their house for dinner. This past Friday was our turn. We spent all day getting ready. Then about 6:30, the rain started. This is most unusual in the midst of the hot season. It's not supposed to rain for a couple more months. And this wasn't a light sprinkle, it was a huge downpour that lasted hours. Every time it rains, we lose power for hours. So, I thought great. Here we go. People are coming and we won't have power. And we only had two candles. Well, the Lord was good and we had power for most of the evening. For the brief time it went off, the two candles were sufficient. It was so shocking we had power at all. I guess not so shocking considering the good Lord we serve.

Anyway, the night was really fun. We enjoyed good food and fellowship. What made it even more special was we got a dining table that day. When Alan, Terry and Gary came, they left us with funds to get a table, something we hadn't been able to afford on our own. Since moving here, we have been eating on the couch around the coffee table. It works for us, but having a dining table is a huge blessing. Buying a table in a store is very expensive. Anywhere from $500-$2000. It's crazy! We just needed a simple, cheap table. So, George walked all over getting quotes from fundis (handymen) to get one made. Their quotes were very high due to the recent triple taxation of wood. We just about gave up on a table when a friend told us of a place to get a cheap table top and a place to get a metal frame welded for the legs. It ended up being the cheapest option and has been just what we needed. It arrived just in time for our dinner party and it worked out great. Thanks Alan, Gary and Terry!

Fun at the Playground

About a week ago, we went to the playground ministry for the first time. Usually they open it up on Saturdays in the morning and let the kids play, followed by Bible stories. The Saturday we went was the first one of the year and they did a special little carnival. It will be easier to tell you about it in pictures.


Our station was the ring toss. We gave the kids one piece of candy for trying and two if they got the ring on the bottle. I know, we are softies!




Here is Eli attempting to help.



There was a bean bag toss



There was a ball toss, knock down the bottles, and a name tag station. The playground was much more calm and organized this day. Usually there are kids running wild!



Once all the candy was gone, we gathered the kids to play group games.



The first was a relay race where the kids had to carry a cup of water on their heads and dump the water in a bucket. The kids had a blast and it was so fun to watch it. It was a scorching hot day so it was a perfect game to play.



Here is George's team celebrating their win!



Next was the ever popular sack race.



Eli was desperate to play, but of course was too young. We hoped to pacify him with the top of the sack we cut off, but he was not amused.



Next George led follow the leader. It was so dusty that day. The kids really kicked up quite the dirt cloud!



We had to leave a bit early because Eli was tired and ready for a nap. So, we missed the Bible Story at the end. Being there was awesome. The kids had so much fun and so did the adults. What is neat is that the volunteers are from different organizations. They are all in Moshi for different reasons, but have come to support the missionary who started this ministry. We look forward to helping them on a regular basis.

Power Outages

We have had terrible power outages recently. That tends to happen in the midst of the hot season, unfortunately. Yesterday it came back on for a bit after being off for over 24 hours. But has been on and off since. The frustrating thing is we never know when it's going to happen. Parts of Moshi will be out and others will have power. As a result, we haven't been able to get online much. Our computers don't hold a charge so without power, we can't check email or blog. As I write this the lights are flickering so I better end this. As soon as the situation has improved, I will be able to blog about recent stuff including our first experience with the playground ministry.

Hope you all are well!