Kenya/Tanzania

In May, I had an awesome opportunity to travel with one of our board members to check out a couple of organizations in Kenya. 

We were able to visit Mercy House and Raffiki Foundation.

Both are amazing organizations that we were able to learn from and be encouraged by.

I am so thankful for the opportunity to check out other work going on in Africa. It was a terrific experience and a great gauge to measure Esther's House by! 

A few days before the trip, my friend and board member, told me that we were going to be able to go on a safari. So, I threw a pair of pants and a jacket into my suitcase and mentally checked off "day safari" in my head.  I had no idea what I was in for on this safari trip, because lo and behold....we went to The Serengeti! It was perhaps the coolest thing that I have ever experienced; truly a once in a lifetime kinda thing.  I still can't wrap my mind around the things that I was able to see and experience. 

I took a bazillion pictures and am posting some of my favorites.....

{Ngorongoro Crater}

{a Masaai Village}

The wildebeest has never been an animal that I have been terribly interested in, but found such a deep admiration for them. We were able to see a huge wildebeest migration where the animals were just sprinting for hours in a long line....2.5 million wildebeest migrating to find water. It was incredible!

Hello, hippos! So cool to find 200 or so hippos just chilling' in a pond.

The amazing ladies I got to experience this trip with.

Ngorongoro crater again on our way back to civilization.

What an incredible opportunity! 

The animals in their natural habitats, the sunsets; what a worshipful experience seeing God's creation!

No matter where I travel or what I get to see, my favorite place in the world is at home with my family. 

Trips away are always good to remind me of that!

TWELVE

Last week our oldest turned 12. 

It is our last year before we have to start throwing "teen" in on his birthdays. 

I am sure if I go back and read all of his birthday posts, I will see that every year I have a bit of a hard time with my first- born continuing to grow older!

It's such bitter sweet feelings all rolled up together.

I love seeing glimpses of the man he is becoming but also clearly see how fast this whole mom-gig is going by. 

And this mom-gig is my favorite thing.

Past Birthdays:

Eleven

Ten

Things I want to remember about Z at 12....

Z is our one quiet child. 

He is greatly outnumbered by all the "louds" in our house.

We are learning his love language is quality time.

He loved that on his birthday, he got to pick all 3 meals and have his whole family sit together and eat and watch him open a gift. 

He and his dad got to get away for the weekend on his birthday and spent the night in a hotel.

You could just tell his quality time cup was filled when he got home. 

He continues his love for reading and most of the time if he goes missing, you can find him in the house with a book.

He is still our day dreamer and I love the ideas he comes up with!
He is learning to play the guitar and likes to practice and watch videos.

He is growing into his role of being the big brother to 3.

He loves to play with his siblings on the trampoline or bring them into his game he invented. 

He is also totally fine being by himself. 

Favorites at 12:

Favorite Color: black and neon green

Favorite movie: Battle of 5 Armies

Favorite Food: fried chicken

Favorite drink: Sprite

Favorite thing to play: sword fighting

Favorite Friend: Corbin

Favorite thing to do with mom: watch movies

Favorite thing to do with dad: Legos, drawing, and sports stuff

Favorite thing about living in Africa: it's really pretty

Favorite Bible Story: Joshua

Favorite subject in school: History

What you want to be when you grow up: a blacksmith for making weapons for movies

E turns NINE {Birthday}

G (10) and E's (9) birthdays just fall 3 days apart so there are lots of birthday celebrations going on in that second week of April.

On Esther's Birthday, we happened to be at the lake with a team.

The kids had a great time getting to do Vacation Bible School on the beach and swim!

The last night before the team left, the staff at the hotel brought out Esther a beautiful, huge birthday cake covered in bright pink flower petals and sang to her.

It made her year! It was so precious seeing how surprised she was to see everyone celebrating her.

This year, after taking into account the HUGE growth that E has had since she has been with us, the advice from a Dr. and a dentist, we decided that Esther would turn 9 on her birthday instead of 8. 

So we celebrated turning 8 & 9 and got a new pretty bike!

Here are her past birthday pics......

SIX

SEVEN

She likes playing jump rope, jumping on the trampoline, and riding her bike.

One of her most admirable qualities is that she can laugh at herself.

She has done so well this year in second grade and works hard to do her best.

She has gained a lot of ground in reading.

She is quick to forgive and is a kind friend.

She is a thoughtful and loyal companion.

We sure do love her and are thankful we get to celebrate her birthdays!

9 year old interview:

Favorite Color: pink and purple

Favorite movie: Hotel Transylvania 2

Favorite Food: grilled cheese

Favorite drink: Coca Cola

Favorite Friend: all the EH girls

Favorite thing to do with mom: spend time with her

Favorite thing to do with dad: spend time with him as well

Favorite thing about living in Africa: that I have a lot of friends

Favorite Bible Story: David and Goliath

Favorite subject in school: handwriting (cursive)

What you want to be when you grow up: a gymnast

G is TEN

My baby boy turned 10 in April. Double digits....how in the world?!

My friend Kristin was in town again this year and snapped pics of my kids, which is why this birthday post is actually happening! 

EIGHTH birthday

NINTH birthday

Grainger is funny, silly, and loves making friends.

His current favorite pastime is playing football with his friends. 

He is on the Jr. football team here at Esther's House and loves it!

I have to drag him in every night at dark from playing with his friends.

Of all of our kids, he has picked up speaking Chichewa the most. 

I am always surprised to hear him saying something to someone and thinking, 

"hey, I didn't know you knew that."

G has BIG feelings and we are working on how to share those BIG feelings in a positive way :)

He loves his siblings (somedays you may not be able to tell ;)  and I think we have been in a brother wrestling phase for every.single.day of the last 10 years. 

I have no hope that he will outgrow it. 

10 year old interview:

Favorite Color: red

Favorite movie: Harry Potter 4

Favorite Food: cake

Favorite drink: Coca Cola

Favorite Friend: Isaac, Precious, Nedson, and Zander

Favorite thing to do with mom: cook

Favorite thing to do with dad: just sitting down together and playing a game

Favorite thing about living in Africa: that I have 80 kids to play with

Favorite Bible Story: when Elijah outruns Ahab's chariot

Favorite subject in school: Reading

What you want to be when you grown up: a chef

A Day in the Life of My MK {missionary kid}

One of my favorite things about having a blog is having a record of what life looks like in different seasons of our lives. I have an old blog that I started when this, almost 12 year old, was just 4 years old. The days were long and I thought I would always remember what life was like back then. But, when I read old posts, I have no recollection of those days....just a few short years ago (#mombrain). So, I just love having records of life. The normal, ordinary days. I know I will cherish looking back on this season with my oldest. And, I am going to pretend like I am not always mentally calculating how he only has 6 short years left in our house {insert ugly cry}

A couple weeks ago, I kept my phone with me all day and snapped pics of what a typical Thursday looks like for my oldest missionary kid. It's fun to follow overseas families from all over the world and get a peek into their lives. Our days are pretty slow and simple, but we love it just the same.

On this particular morning, I woke up to find Z in the kitchen. He has become quite the cook, making biscuits and chocolate gravy for breakfast. 

After breakfast, he has morning chores and then is off to do Math with his tutor. I seriously wished I had outsourced Math a loooooong time ago. It has always been a subject we have butted heads in (let's be real, 7th grade Math is about as high as I can remember). A veteran missionary, mama friend suggested I find someone to help me with just this one subject. I don't know why I never thought of it before! In Malawi, we have many certified teachers looking for work as they wait years for the government to place them. So, it was win-win situation. I am so thankful for Mr. Andrew!

After 1-1.5 hours of Math, Z comes back to the house and we finish up the rest of his subjects. 

We usually finish up school around 1 o'clock.

Next up is lunch and play time. 

Some kindle reading and games while sister plays beauty shop.

In the afternoons, all 4 of my kids get to participate in skills classes. I am SO thankful for this time. I love for my kids to get to participate in an activity with other kids and a teacher. Those important life lessons of, "if you sign up for this, you have to see it through to the end".

Z is in my computer skills class this term with his friend and fellow MK "C'. 

After skills class, we play outside, eat dinner, shower, do chores, maybe watch a movie, and go to bed.

That's a typical day. 

I used to worry about the things my kids were missing out on...school, sports, extracurriculars, etc.

Now, I am just really thankful for this season. The family time, the routines, the no-stress. 

I think it's a pretty good childhood!

A Day in the Life {Journal Entry}

I have been wanting to document more of our day to day life here in Malawi. Funny, embarrassing, mundane stuff that I know I will enjoy looking back on one day. 

My past "A Day in the Life" journal entries can be found...

Here
Here
Here

&

Here

11/2013

In our first couple months, "on the field" we had our first "what!?" experience. David had taken the kids out for a bike ride. At this particular time, we were a circus show in the village (now nobody pays any attention to us). Every time we went out, everyone would chase us and point + laugh. It took a bit to get used to...especially for our kids. So on this particular day, David had 3 of our kids and was riding bikes. We had bought the boys' bikes a little big so that they could have a few years out of them and son #2 hadn't quite gotten the hang of starting off his new bike on his own. After a fall, he hadn't been able to climb back on, so he was walking with head hung down as a whole group of kids followed him and laughed. {side note: now he would totally be able to handle this situation, but at the time he was embarrassed and feeling really sad}. 

As the group of kids surrounded him, a bike taxi (njinga) was flying up on the group and totally took out one of the kids; sending her flying into the ditch with an apparent broken leg. Son #2, oblivious to the "hit and run" that happened behind him just kept walking to the house. 

The next day, a knock came to the gate. The mother of the injured child was there. She was accusing our 7 year old son of running over her daughter and breaking her leg. A crowd had gathered and they wanted us to pay for the damages done. It was definitely one of those moments we were like, "what?! 
 that is not how it went down!" After many conversations, translations, and even confessions from the bike taxi driver, our 7 year old son's name was cleared. The mom broke down in tears and said, "I am not accusing anymore, but am begging for help." In Malawi, when someone is hospitalized, a family member must go with the person to the hospital and stay with them 24/7 to care/feed for them. The mom was just desperate for transportation and food for she and her daughter for however long they were going to have to staying in the hospital. 

It was definitely one of those moments that took us  from scared, confused, angry, and  frustrated, to deep compassion. We quickly saw how an injury to a family member can deeply affect the whole family. How even "free" healthcare costs families greatly as they have to figure out a way to supply meals, take time off work (if you have a job), and come up with costly transportation. It was such a clear picture to me of how all  moms are going to do what it takes to get our kid's help. I just may never have had to be in that desperate of a situation before. 

{SIX} Birthday

These birthdays keep coming faster and faster it seems! 

Hard to believe our Asher girl is SIX!

Here is her 4th birthday

and her

5th birthday

Man, we could not love this girl more!

She just exudes LIFE and JOY!

She is our worry free girl who is fear-less!

She's the 3 year old jumping off a clip into the lake.

The 5 year old diving off the diving board with her floaties.

She's the kid that insists on going on the scary zip-line course all by herself.

She's kind and compassionate.

She loves people and has never met a stranger.

She is almost always happy and peppy!

She is also energetic...and LOUD.

She's the last one to fall asleep each night and the first one to wake up each morning.

She loves to laugh and thinks her jokes are the funniest.

We love you Asher! We hope you never change! You make life more fun for everyone!

Favorites at SIX

Favorite Colors: blue

Favorite Movie: Wild Kratts

Favorite Food: Cereal

Favorite Drink: ice water

Favorite thing to play: play on the trampoline with Esther 

Favorite Friend: Kiera and Makenzie

Favorite thing to do with mommy: "watch a movie"

Favorite thing to do with daddy: "play with him"

What do you want to be when you grown up? "a cook"

A Day in the Life {Journal Entry}

I have been wanting to document more of our day to day life here in Malawi. Funny, embarrassing, mundane stuff that I know I will enjoy looking back on one day. 
My past "A Day in the Life" journal entries can be found...

here
here
&
here

11/2013

This journal entry was one of our very first "adventures" or "cultural experiences" when moving to Malawi. We had been living here for about a month and decided to go try out the lake with our missionary team (3 families). At that time, we were serving with a sweet, young, newly wed couple and they made the brave decision to ride in our car (with our FOUR children) to the lake (about a 2 hour drive). We made the trip TO the lake and enjoyed a wonderful day swimming, snorkelling, cliff jumping and eating the local chambo (fish) and rice. We left at just the right time to head home before it got dark. The roads to the lake are pretty rough with deep potholes on the edges. Between the potholes, goats, bicycles, and walkers, you don't want to be driving on this road at dark. 

We drove down the loooong washboard dirt road and noticed that our car was starting to over heat. We pulled over to let the radiator cool down and give the other family a heads up that we were having car troubles. At this time, one of our very new-to-us daughters decided to perform one of her epic melt downs, that she used to have back then. In her defence she had only been in our family for 2.5 short months and had experienced 2 MAJOR moves. We had grown used to these and knew how to ride them out, but all the locals were very concerned about the "malawian looking child" with a bunch of Americans who clearly didn't know how to make the child stop crying. We attracted quite the crowd.

Once the fit/radiator had cooled down, we decided to get back in the car and try to make it home. A few feet down the black top road, the radiator blew. Our car was done. Next, began our long 7 hour journey back home. Yes, 7 hours to drive what should be a 2 hour trip. We found a small truck who was willing to pull us with a rope home (for a price). The only problem was that he didn't have brake lights...nor fuel. So, as we putted home in the dark, David (husband/driver) was at high alert trying to strain his eyes in case the truck pulling us was slowing down or stopping. Our brakes and power steering were pretty non-existent at this point, so it made for a stressful driving experience. Every few miles, the driver would pull over and he and his buddies would disappear into the bush looking for black market fuel. No gas stations were on this road and the ones we finally would pass were closed because......yeah, it's dark. We spent many a hour on the side of the road waiting for fuel. So thankful that the other missionary friend brought her laptop with Ducky Dynasty episodes on it to keep our kids semi-entertained. We attracted a lot of attention with every stop and adults and kids alike were all gathered around the back of our car watching Duck Dynasty with our kids.

We arrived home late that night and everyone was asleep, except tired driver. This was definitely one of our biggest life lessons of what to expect when traveling in Malawi:

Expect things not to go as expected. 
Be chill about the unexpected or you will go crazy. 
Pack extra things for your kids like food, water and entertainment in case you trip doesn't go as planned (because it never will!).
It's your choice how to deal with difficulties. You can chose joy or chose frustration. (still learning 
this one)