Life in Iringa

It's been absolutely too long since I've posted on my blog, so here's a quick update:

Since I last wrote, we completed our three-week orientation course in Dar es Salaam and traveled inland via local bus line to Riverside Campsite, just outside the town of Iringa. On our trip to Iringa, we drove through Mikumi National Park. Our kids were delighted when we saw a family of elephants, giraffes, gazelles, zebras, and even a baboon. Their excitement was contagious!

We have been here at Riverside Campsite for nearly 3 weeks now and will be staying in Iringa until the end of the year studying Swahili. We are grateful to have be given a little banda (cabin) to live in during our time here. We're all sleeping in the same room like we were in Dar, but here we each have our own beds and we have our own bathroom and study room. That is so nice! We also have one of the best views of the entire campsite (See right). We feel blessed.

Language learning is going well for us. It's amazing how many grammatical structures and how much vocabulary we have learned in just 3 weeks. Today, we put some of our new Swahili ability to good use. Our class took the cook's grocery list and went into town to buy supplies for the campsite at the open-air produce market. We bought things like papai (papaya), tikiti maji (watermelon), mchele (uncooked rice), mkate (bread), pili pili mbuzi (hot peppers), ndizi (bananas) and maharagwe (beans). It felt good to feel confident enough to use Swahili and to be understood as well. (Picture 2: Me with my friends Tena and Ellen after buying our produce.)

Many people have asked how the kids are doing. Thanks so much for your prayers on their behalf. They have adjusted well to life here in Tanzania. While we are in class in the mornings, they play with the children of other students and are watched by a Tanzanian nanny. Our nanny, Nikwisa, is wonderful, and the kids adore her! She is teaching them Swahili greetings, too, which is an added bonus. (Picture 3: Anna and Nikwisa)

Josiah, our nature lover, is in heaven here at Riverside. The camp is nestled in mountains and located next to the Little Ruaha River, so there are tons of new things to explore. He has a collection box full of sticks, leaves, seed pods, and even a bug or two. If you let him, he would explore all day. (Picture 4: Josiah and me with our friend Ellen perched on one of the highest rocks at the campsite.)

Okay, so now I feel better about finally getting something new posted. More later... (hopefully sooner than later). Thanks for reading!

Settling In

It's hard to believe that it has been almost a week since we left the United States! We began our travel to Tanzania on Tuesday evening, July 21. Several of our family and friends came to KCI airport to see us off.

Here I am with Anna, my sister-in-law, Katie, and my niece, Noel.

Me with my sister, Jen (Doesn't she look amazing for just having had a baby a few weeks ago?)

It was also special to have my dear friend, Mandy Buckley, and her family come and see us off. They had loaned us their Dodge Ram truck to use during our last month in the States. The truck was a HUGE help in getting our 12 bags and 7 carry-ons to the airport

It was a difficult goodbye in some ways, but we could also sense our loved ones' excitement about what God has called us to do. This made the goodbyes seem more bearable. As Paul's dad said to him as we said goodbye to him on the phone in Chicago: “We love what you're doing for our Lord!” That encouragement and similar words from others have stayed with us as we've begun our adjustment to Tanzanian culture.

Waiting in London to catch a train to the international terminal for our flight to Tanzania.

Our first views of Tanzania from the airplane.

Tanzanian ladies walking along the side of the road.

We landed in Dar es Salaam on Thursday morning, July 23. We were exhausted after so many hours of flying and very little sleep, but we knew we had to do our best to stay up all day so we could begin acclimating to the new time zone. (Tanzania is 8 hours ahead of the Midwest.) We tried, but the kids and I ended up crashing for a little while.

Thankfully, we had some distractions to keep us awake for a little while. Our friends and future Dodoma neighbors, Jonathan and Rachel, came by with another colleague and had lunch with us at the hotel restaurant. It was nice to have our first meal with people who speak Swahili so we could get the hang of how eating out works around here.

Somehow we made it to bedtime without napping again, and when we turned out the lights, all of us slept hard.

Speaking of hard, that definition can definitely be used for the hotel mattresses. We're thankful to have a room with a bed for us and one for the kids, but the mattresses are about as soft as an American box springs. We have tried to compensate by putting sleeping bags under our sheets and by adding extra pillows, but we still wake up with sore lower backs and hips nearly every morning. We're praying that the beds at language school are softer.

We tried to make our bed a little softer with an air mattress on top, but we eventually took that off and told ourselves we'll just have to acclimate.

We're looking forward to starting our mission's 3-week orientation program tomorrow morning. We have now been in Tanzania for five days, and though it's been nice to have several unstructured days to adjust to the new time and culture, we're looking forward to having a schedule again.

I probably won't be able to post again for a while, since our internet access will likely be limited for the next few weeks, but I did want to post a quick update and a few pictures while I had the chance.

Thanks for your prayers for us and our continued adjustment to life here in Tanzania!

Saying Goodbye

Today, we begin the journey that we've been working toward for nearly 5 years. At 6pm CDT, we'll say our final goodbyes and leave for Africa.

It still feels a little surreal to think that our little family is really getting on that airplane this evening, but our bags are all packed (and hopefully at/under the airline weight limits), most of our to-do list is complete, and we're beginning to feel the excitement building.

I think the kids understand just a bit of what's going on, but they are most excited about using their new backpacks and neck pillows on the airplane to Tanzania.

Oh, but then, there's the goodbyes. I hate goodbyes, but I need them at the same time. I need to have hugged my moms and dads (one of the best things about being married is getting to have more than just one set of parents in your corner), my grandmas and grandpas, my sisters and brothers, my dear friends, and all those other important family members and friends who are such a huge part of my life.

The goodbyes are only for a little while, but I still need them. Closure is important, even if there is email and Skype to keep us connected across the miles.

I'm excited about today and what awaits for us at the other end of our long plane trips, but I know full well that those airport goodbyes this evening will be one of the harder things I've done in my life. I have my Kleenex handy.

How Much is 50 Pounds?

I haven't pondered the answer to this question much until this week. But now I have a pretty good answer for you: It's not much!

50 pounds, the weight limit for airline baggage, is easy to attain when you're trying to fit three years of stuff for a family of four (which includes two growing children) into full-sized footlockers and suitcases. It's unbelievably simple to reach your limit...and FAST!

Our biggest problem: We own heavy stuff and didn't even know it.

Here are some random heavy items in our suitcases:

1. Bottle of shampoo - 2 pounds
2. Children's curriculum books - 8 pounds
3. Batteries - 5 pounds
4. Pressure cooker - 10 pounds
5. Play Dough 4-pack - 1.5 pounds
6. Baby Boy (Anna's beloved life-sized doll...Thank you, Grandma) - 3 pounds
7. Paul's Greek and Hebrew Bible - 3 pounds
8. Children's gummy vitamins - 2 pounds
9. Chaco's sandals (I might just wear these on the plane to save the weight) - 3 pounds
10. D-size Maglight flashlight - 3 pounds

If you add up these 10 items, we're already nearing the 50-pound mark. And we haven't even started talking about clothes. (We sure have a lot of those!)

Suffice it to say, packing has been a process for us, but we're getting it all figured out. Hopefully, we'll get it all right here at my parent's house, so we won't have to be rearranging on the airport floor.

Ready or not, in 4 short days, we'll find out.

A New Nephew

Babies are so much fun! Although I'm excited beyond words that my kids have exited babyhood, there's something absolutely wonderful about being an auntie to a baby niece or nephew.

On July 7, our new nephew Nathan Luke Snowden entered the world. He was due just a few days before our departure date, so I was praying that he would come early (as was my sister). It's hard to believe this little guy will be three years old when we come back on our first furlough.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Yesterday, Josiah attended his first baseball game. We were given tickets for amazing seats at a Kansas City Royals game. (Thanks, Dr. Kanne!)

Seated in the second row above the Royals dugout, Paul was able to get some amazing shots of the game. And thanks to some generous fans in the first row, Josiah came home with two foul balls and a batting glove.

He must have had a good time at the game because now, along with wanting to be a deep sea diver, he thinks it would be fun to be a baseball player when he grows up.

Three Weeks and Counting...

First of all, welcome to the very first post on our very first blog. So many of our friends are blogging these days, so I figured I'd give this thing a try. Also, I figure that the grandmas in my life would thoroughly appreciate updates and pictures of the grandkids that we're about to take to another continent.

As I write, we have exactly three weeks left before we leave for Tanzania. God has provided 100 percent of our monthly financial needs, and we have all the money we need for language school. Praise Him! We are now homeless, car-less, and living out of suitcases...several of them.

Since we left Dallas on June 3, we've been in 9 different states and in two different countries.

Our first stop was southern Arizona, where we spent two wonderful weeks with Paul's parents. One of the most magical parts of those two weeks was the short family vacation we all took to Puerto Penasco, Mexico, a small beach town about four hours drive from Tucson. We all had a great time swimming, looking for hermit crabs, napping, eating great Mexican food, and visiting.

After we said our goodbyes to Paul's parents, we headed back to the Midwest. We had a quick stopover in Kansas City so we could unload our van (which was packed to the gills with our stuff from Dallas) and then headed north to Wisconsin to attend my cousin Rob's wedding. We had a great time hanging out with family and enjoying the event.

Our final stop on our June road trip was central Illinois. On Sunday, June 21, we had the opportunity to share about our ministry at Lexington Community Church (Paul was on staff at this church when God called us into missions back in 2004). We thoroughly enjoyed reconnecting with good friends in Lexington, and were privileged to have them pray over us. We even drove Josiah by the house we lived in when he was born. (He thought this was cool.)

So, after our whirlwind trip, we're back in Kansas City for our final three weeks in the U.S. We're beginning to feel the pressure that comes with preparing to move to another country for three years, but God is sustaining us through it all.

Thanks for visiting our blog!