A New Addition

Our family hasn't owned a dog since Josiah was a baby. We moved to seminary housing in 2005 and were no longer able to keep our spunky little chihuahua, Amiga. It was sad to have to give her up. (Paul and I got Amiga just a week after we were married.) Thankfully, though, Paul's parents were willing to adopt her, so we still get to see her every time we visit them in Arizona.

For a quite a while now, our kids have been asking to have a pet. We considered getting a guinea pig while we were doing our linguistics training in Dallas, but we figured it would be better just to wait on the pet thing until we came to Tanzania. So, that's what we kept telling our kids: "We'll get a dog in Tanzania."

Now, our kids can stop asking.

Yesterday we adopted Chica, a 9-month old (or so) mixed-breed from an expat who is leaving Tanzania. The dog hasn't had much human contact for the past 5 months (her owners were on furlough and she was being looked after by guards who didn't give her much attention), so she's still fairly shy and scared. We're hoping, though, that she'll come out of her shell more as she gets used to us.

Even this afternoon, she was wagging her tail and playing a little bit with Josiah and Anna and the other children on our compound.

It will be nice to have a pet again.

Easter Break

Has it REALLY been over a month since I updated the blog? Wow!

I always have grand aspirations of blogging regularly, but for some reason those aspirations never seem come to fruition.

This time, I'm going to blame my lack of updating on the fact that my computer died a few weeks ago. (Thankfully, a kind soul agreed to hand-carry a new one on their recent trip to Tanzania, which is why I'm now able to bring you this blog post). I've also been keeping busy entertaining both kids while Josiah has been on a 2-week Easter break from school.

Here are a few highlights from the break:

A mini-safari to Ruaha National Park - We joined some friends on a day trip to the park (which some say is best game reserve in Tanzania) and were able to see lots of giraffes, elephants, zebras, impalas, and other animals. Unfortunately, the lions - everyone's top choice on their Animals I Want To See Today list - evaded us that day.


A lip injury - Josiah punctured his bottom lip with his teeth when he fell on our slippery concrete floor after a bath. Thankfully, we were able to use super glue to treat the injury. Getting stitches just wasn't an option for us here in Dodoma.


Many art projects created - It's a good thing spring break is over because our sticker, paint, and coloring book stash was disappearing rapidly.


Many books read - We've read the books we brought with us from home over and over and OVER again, so when we inherited a new stack of American books from another expat's moving sale, my kids were in heaven. Mommy is a little hoarse.


Many hours logged outside on the swing, in the hammock, and in the dirt - I'm so grateful to live in the land of eternal summer.


School resumes tomorrow, and although it's been a fine two weeks, all of us are ready to return to a somewhat normal schedule.

Wedding Invitation

On Saturday, Paul and I are going to a wedding in a Burunge village. The sister of our co-worker, Magdalena, is getting married, and we were invited.

Wedding invitations work a little differently here in Tanzania than they do in the United States. If you receive one and plan to attend, along with your reply, you are expected to give a donation. For this particular wedding, the invitation states that a couple should donate 15,000 shillings (approx. $11 US) and a single person should donate 10,000 shillings (approx. $7 US).

Unlike weddings in the United States, the bride's family does not pay for the event. After the wedding cost is determined by the families involved, it is the couples responsibility to raise the funds, hence the donations. Family, friends, acquaintances, and even friends of friends (which is us in this case) might all receive invitations.

I'm looking forward to the wedding, but I'm also a little nervous too. It will likely be a full day of speaking Swahili, which still isn't the easiest thing for me, especially when I'm feeling nervous and unsure of myself. Also, I might be separated from my safety net (a.k.a. Paul) for much of the day. In Tanzania, and especially in village settings, men and women are often seated separately and participate in different portions of the event. It will probably be one of those times when I have to push myself out there and try while doing my best not to worry about messing up.

On the other hand, I'm excited because this will be my first opportunity to see a Burunge village and it will be my first time to attend a wedding in this culture. It will be interesting to learn more about how these events work. I'm also looking forward to hearing Burunge spoken by a larger audience.

I'll let you know how it goes.

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Update: Well, I can't let you know how the wedding went, because at the end of the week, Paul hurt his neck and Josiah had a virus, so we were unable to go. We were disappointed to miss out on the experience, but surely another opportunity will arise in the future.

Taco Night

Last week, a bunch of our colleagues were in Dodoma for a Literacy and Scripture Use conference. Two of our friends, Ellen and Jo, stayed with us for the week, and we had a lovely time catching up and hanging out.

Oh, and we cooked for them. Both Paul and I love entertaining, so the first night everyone arrived we had a taco feast with Jo, Ellen, and the McCall family. I made 24 flour tortillas, guacamole, salsa, and the rest of the taco fixings. We even had a decent sour cream substitute - thick, plain yogurt that we can buy at one of the local shops, the same shop where we found real yellow cheddar last week! [We were so excited about that one!] The food was delish, if I can say so myself, and the fellowship was even better.

Good fun!

A Little Mud on the Tires

What do you do when it's been raining all weekend, you're a little bored, and you live in a country where dirt roads are plentiful? Well, you get into your big, rough, tough Land Cruiser and you drive through huge puddles of mud with your buddies seeing who can make the biggest splash.

Paul won.


Then, he got to give the car a bath so we could drive a cleaner vehicle to church this morning.


Boys will be boys.

Really? He's Old Enough?

I remember it like it was yesterday.

Josiah Paul Hefft was 9 pounds, 9 ounces, dwarfing all of the other babies in the nursery at BroMenn Hospital in Normal, Illinois. My claim to fame during his birth: I laughed all the way through it.

No, I'm not superwoman. [Superwomen are those amazing ladies who do the whole thing without drugs.] The anesthesiologist couldn't get my epidural to fully kick in, so he "did it up right" and I couldn't feel a single thing. I couldn't even wiggle my toes. Bless that man.

Josiah wouldn't really eat for the first 24 hours, which worried me a little [ok, a lot], but on the plus side, he slept all the time. I should have taken those God-given opportunities to catch up on sleep, considering I hadn't really slept much the week before he was born. But, good grief, I finally had my own BABY! I had to hold him and admire those cute little fingers and toes. I had to trace the beautiful curve to his chubby chin. Those were good days. [Well, except for the lack of sleep part and the crying part and the messy diapers part.]

I remember it like it was yesterday, which is why it blows my mind that my just-yesterday little one is now 5 years old and going to school.

His first day was Monday. He's normally an early riser, but we heard him up and at 'em especially early yesterday morning. He was overjoyed to pack his new backpack that Grandma Helmers had given him [even though in the Reception class all they bring is a snack] and get on the carpool bus to head to school.

I was nervous that he might be a little apprehensive, being that it was his first day and that he was starting class mid-year. But when the teacher rang the bell for class to begin, he buzzed passed me like I wasn't even there. Nope, he was definitely not nervous. I'm sure it helped that two other kids from our housing compound and another little girl we got to know at language school are in his class too.

I'm grateful that, at least for now, he's loving the idea of school. He has many, many years of school ahead of him.

But it still seems like just yesterday.

A Weekend in Dar

Our week without a husband/daddy was a long one. [Single moms - I have a whole new respect for you!] But I'm happy to report that we made it.

Sure, the kids watched more movies than usual [How else is a mommy on her own supposed to get a shower?], I never seemed to get a cup of hot coffee in the mornings [it was always cold by the time I had the time to drink it], and - even though I'm ashamed to admit it - one night after the kids were FINALLY in bed, I sat down and cried out of sheer exhaustion [just so you know, it was highly cathartic]. All that said, we made it just fine.

Paul was gone to Dar es Salaam all last week with the translation team to check portions of Acts and Revelation with a translation consultant. He had a good week learning the ropes of his new role on the team and figuring out how he can best use his skills to assist the project. They worked hard.


So, after a long week of working hard in different ways, we decided it would be fun to reward ourselves with a short weekend holiday in Dar back together again as a family. The mosquitoes are horrible there and it's hot and humid this time of year, so it's much more comfortable here at home, but in Dar, you can shop for things you can't get in the smaller towns and you can go to the beach. We jumped at the chance.

Thankfully, the kids and I were able to get an affordable rate flying with Missionary Aviation Fellowhip from Dodoma to Dar es Salaam, so our trip was only 2 hours as opposed to 6 or 7 by bus. We got to fly in a six-seater Cessna 206, a model affectionately referred to by my missionary pilot father-in-law as "the Sky Pig."

I don't love flying, but my kids do - thanks to my dear father-in-law and his aviation-loving son, my husband - so they did great on the flight. And "it was only a little bumpy," as Anna took to telling people when asked about her experience. I must admit, it was cool to see Dodoma and other parts of Tanzania from the air.


We had a nice weekend together as a family. I found a few more things for our house and we had a blast swimming at White Sands, a lovely ocean resort on Mbezi Beach with beach front access, clean pools [that can be a problem here in Tanzania], good food, and affordable day rates.



We had so much fun, we were all exhausted - in the good, sleep-inducing way.

It's good to be together as a family again.