School is Out

Well, since we are starting back to school in less than 2 weeks, thought I should wrap up last years school year.

Oh my, how my kids have GROWN.....

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{oh my goodness, look how much my baby has grown}

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The first day of school pictures bring back SO many memories. 

Our girls had been home 2-3 weeks and we were about to move to the other side of the world in just a few short weeks.

We have often said that this year has been the fastest year of our lives, but looking back at these pictures, it also seems so long ago. 

School this year was a little, ahem, rushed? 

We moved and then began school in November.

The name of the game was get.school.done!

By the end of our school year we were doing school 6 days a week.

Ain't nobody who thinks Saturday school is fun.

But, we finished and hopefully we learned some too (I know I have)!

We are excited to be starting in August this year. 

Hoping to take it slower and enjoy the process a bit more.

Road Grading, Malawi Style {Malawi Mondays}

{Malawi Mondays is an attempt to show glimpses into "how we see Malawi" as someone who has moved here from another passport country. Hope to give a little picture of how life here is beautiful, exciting, difficult at times and full of learning experiences}

When we lived stateside, our house was  on a black top road that turned into a dirt road right after our property. As the boys grew up, they loved seeing the road grader pass our house. The drivers would always keep a bag of dum-dums nearby to hand out to the boys (and other kids) watching them do their "thing". 

The purpose of road grading is to smooth out roads so that cars can easily pass along, while also keeping the water draining (yes, I had to ask my husband the purpose ;). 

This is how we road grade, Malawi style.....

There are no air-conditioned tractor cabs with shiny blades.

Instead of blades, you use your hoe, and the strength of your back.

The government pays people in the village to grade out a certain sections of the road.

The ditches are cut lower and the excess soil is thrown into the middle of the road.

There is a long triangle of sorts (not pictured) made of 2 x 4's that is used to measure the road and make sure the slope from the middle to the edge is at the correct angle.

The soil is unbelievably  hard right now as rain has been non-existent since April.

The distance from the highway to Esther's House is 2.8 km and it has taken about a month to grade the road section by section to here.

There are a few blacktop roads in all of Malawi, but the rest (and vast majority) are dirt roads. This is how the roads are maintained all over the country!

Double Digits

It continues to baffle me how fast these years are going by!

I remember when David's grandma told me, when my boys were babies, that "the days are long, but the years are short"...oh, how that is true.

So, here is my first baby and he is now 10...TEN, crazy I tell you!

It is getting hard to get pictures of this one, and even harder to get permission to post them, so we'll see how long he will let me put him on the blog.
{And that is ok, I want to respect his wishes/privacy!}

 When my mom came to visit for the month of June, we got to show her Lake Malawi. 

You have to keep reminding yourself you're at the Lake, cause your brain thinks "ocean". 

This guy still LOVES to read, it is absolutely been his favorite thing to do since he learned to read in Kindergarten. I have to hide books from him for the next year's school or he'll read them all before we start. 

He is an "old soul" and our deep thinker.

At 10, he still has that innocence that he can grow up to be whatever he dreams of!

I love this!

The theme of this year for our family has been "transition". He has become a big brother to 3, moved to another country, lives a different way of life than what he is used to. Some days have been really tough, but he is finding his own place and growing in his relationship with Jesus. 

So, so thankful that God allowed me this gift of being his momma!

Birthday Interview at 10

Favorite Color: black

Favorite movie: The Lost Medallion

Favorite Food: Taco Pizza

Favorite drink: Cherry Plumb Soda

Favorite thing to play: Baseball

Favorite Friend: Corbin and Gavin

Favorite thing to do with mom: run

Favorite thing to do with dad: boxing

Favorite thing about living in Africa: finding crab claws at the Lake

Favorite Bible Story: Benaniah

Favorite subject in school: Reading

What you want to be when you grow up: Architect

Meat Market {Malawi Mondays}

{Malawi Mondays is an attempt to show glimpses into "how we see Malawi" as someone who has moved here from another passport country. Hope to give a little picture of how life here is beautiful, exciting, difficult at times and full of learning experiences}

So, I guess it is kinda obvious how I fell off the blog wagon for a bit. June was a busy month with finishing up school, hosting a missions team, and having grandma come visit for a month! 

Let the Malawi Mondays commence!

Meat here is considered a "relish". 

Relish is anything that you eat with your Nsima. See here for more info on Nsima.

Meat is pretty expensive and is a treat, rare for many we live around.

If you had some extra kwacha and wanted to buy meat for your family, you'd head to the market where you'd find chicken, rabbit, goat, or currently mouse kabobs (you read correctly, mice.on.a.stick)!

The goat is usually slaughtered out on tables and you can pick your choice meat along with weighing your portion and be on your way. 

{sorry if this pic makes you squirmish}

It may not be totally USDA approved, but we've still yet to hear of anyone with "mad goat" disease and it actually tastes pretty good!