Encouragement

We just had a fantastic week with two friends who came to visit us here. We were blessed beyond measure as they listened to us, ministered to us, counseled us, advised us, encouraged us and helped us. Thank you brothers for coming all this way and to your families and Immanuel for sending them!

Just another day

While walking home from our Storying group in a village today a 2m long bright green mamba crossed our path right in front of us. That's not too out of the ordinary for us. :)

Chocolate Strawberry Rainbow Cake

When I asked Eliana what kind of cake she'd like for her birthday, she was quite certain that she wanted a chocolate strawberry cake, probably inspired by the one I recently made for Anastasia. Unfortunately, our strawberry supply has dramatically slowed down. So I searched the internet for ideas. That reminded me that we just don't have a lot of options out here. Sprinkles? Nope. Kit-Kats? Dreaming. Fondant? Haha, good one! 

But when searching through my sweet stash, hiding in the very bottom corner I found a small packet of m&ms that someone had brought us from South Africa. (When Nate found out he informed me that if he'd known about it they'd be long gone.) Upon assessing the assortment of colors in the packet I realized it could just make out a rainbow using every m&m (minus one orange one that Nate snuck on his way past.) Do they plan that during packaging?  

Needless to say, Eliana LOVED the cake and told me that it was even better than what she was thinking and that I was like a piece of delicious chocolate birthday cake myself. (Love those descriptive lessons in homeschooling!) Thank you, Lord, for sweet surprises found in the bush of Africa. 

Fresh Eggs

We had all of these fresh eggs from two of our hens. Sadly, our favorite, Lucy, died this week. We don't know why. Our guard suggested that we kept her too healthy!

Fun shaped tortillas

Last night we had some funly shaped tortillas made by little hands. Eliana particularly sees countries and continents in her shapes. Last night we ate Africa and Australia!

Family game night - Old Maid

Here's Daddy trying not to pick the old maid from Lilah. The kids crack up in this game whenever poor old maid is traded. Ambrose won this one. Poor daddy lost:)

Good morning Daddy!

We love Saturday morning "sleep-ins"

Iced Coffee season

A tradition that Nate and I have had for the duration of our marriage is to sit down and have a coffee and piece of chocolate together once a day. At this season of our life we usually do it after lunch while the kids are resting. Yesterday, Nate served iced coffee. That means it's the end of the cold season. 

Goodbye cold season, we look forward to your return next year!

Eliana's kindergarten.

Early morning moments

Family game night

Sunday night became "family game night" for us a couple of months ago. It's been a good addition to our family.  As a plus to the fun, I'm seeing that the kids are learning about turn taking, numbers, sequencing, matching, rejoicing with others and losing well. I've been surprised with what our two year old can do. Anastasia pretty much just eats the game boxes... 

Filing Cabinet makeover

Nate has had this filing cabinet for 14 years. It was black and a bit banged up (it has crossed the seas after all). So when Nate found some gold spray paint in town he indulged my dreams for this faithful bit of furniture. Love it. 

Anastasia One

Happy first birthday my baby. You are a beautiful joy to us!

Pavlova

This was the farewell treat I got the night before leaving Australia. My sister-in-law makes it for us without fail when we're in aus. It's called Pavlova and it's a traditional Australian dessert. Whipped egg whites and sugar, crusted on the outside and soft in the middle, topped with cream and fruit. Need I talk about the deliciousness? Thank you Sconny!

Sound sleeping.

Why is it babies sleep their heaviest when you need to go out?

Fresh from our garden

Mulberries, strawberries and bananas

Pulling up sweetness

I wonder what she sees and what she is thinking...

Nate made a slippery dip

Yes, he did. He used a sheet of tin that was sitting at the back of a friend's petrol station and some wood that he had cut from local trees. Pretty nifty, huh?

Handsy

I'm loving the creativity of our five year old!

Two foot the border

Have you ever had each foot in a different country at the same time?

Victoria Falls

Have I mentioned before that Victoria Falls takes your breath away? Nate and I saw the Falls back in 2006 with Nate's sister, Sara and her hubby, Eric. This time around was no less spectacular. The Falls were so forceful at this time of year (April) that we had to suit up in ponchos.

Poncho and all, we still got soaked to the bones while crossing the bridge. What a roar there was!

Have you ever been rained on from the bottom up?

 Anastasia was safely tucked away inside my poncho.

Before:

After:

And here we are standing at the brink of the falls.

Don't step backwards! Back in 2006 BK (before kids) we all walked across this river and leaned over the very edge of the Falls. That was in dry season in July. There is no chance of that in April just after rainy season!

Vic Falls from a distance, still just as beautiful.

The morning of our adventure at Vic Falls this was the Psalm that I read:
The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the LORD, over many waters.
The voice of the LORD is powerful;
the voice of the LORD is full of majesty. Psalm 29:3-4

What a beautiful way to start the day, and then to get a glimpse of the power of our mighty God's voice through hearing the roar of many waters. The LORD *is* full of majesty.

Scorpion Season

It would seem that with the dry season come scorpions. I killed five in our house in a week. This is another one. It was (thankfully dead) in the washing machine after I did a load. They seem to like the pile of clothes in our bathroom…

Thankfully, none of us have been stung, but it's been close. Nate almost backed into one in the shower and Anastasia crawled right past one. I'm reminded of a dear group of ladies in Louisiana who laid their hands on us and prayed for many things, including our protection from snakes and scorpions. Thank you for those ladies, Lord!

You can see from the photo that the scorpions are quite small, but in Indiana Jones (which I'm sure is a Top Authority on such things :), it says that the smaller they are the worse the sting. May we never find out if this is true!

Baby in overalls

Don't you just love a baby in overalls?

What a man!

Over exposure

 I don't know what happened to this photo when I took it… but I like it!

Elephants

Last month we went on a trip to Zambia, to South Luangwa game park and then on to Victoria Falls. I would highly recommend both parks. South Luangwa was full of up close animals and Victoria Falls, well, it takes your breath away. On the trip as a whole, elephants became my new favorite animal. We saw them everywhere! How can such a huge animal be so gentle! 

It was cool seeing them on safari

This one mock charged us and trumpeted at us. It felt like the ground shook!

But it was even cooler when we had to move to a different lunch table when some walked too near us.

And when we had to be escorted to our room because one was munching by the pool.

It was cool seeing them walk past our tents at a distance...

But even cooler when one lumbered out from the trees behind our tent while we were having a picnic and we had to run for a safe distance! What a beautiful animal!