If you guessed the queen termite from one of the termite mounds dug up at our new home.... you are RIGHT! {but I doubt that's what you guessed} :) I think she is becoming African already!
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Monday, February 25, 2013
{{Getting Settled In}}
We have been in Tanzania for five days now and are getting adjusted. The older three kids slept through almost the entire night last night, while Harper was awake for a small part of it. Other than that we are trusting tonight will be the first night we all beat jet lag and get a full nights sleep. The first three nights were very hard for me to sleep at night, as worry would creep into my mind, and I am sure jet lag played a part into it as well. Both Brian and I have been praying that I would be able to sleep at night, and praise God last night I slept through almost the entire night! It felt wonderful to wake up after being in a deep sleep!
The kids had their first day of school today, which we also think will help them sleep through the night and get on a normal schedule. Soph started preschool, Emmersyn is in kindergarten, and Kayden is thrilled to have started first grade and have a class of all boys and one girl. They are attending an international school that some missionaries started here just a few months ago, Their classes are smaller and the kids have all met and love their new teachers. Lice is a big problem at the school right now, last week they even had to cancel school one day because it had gotten so out of control. So today Kayden's teacher wasn't there because she was at home being on the tail end of having lice. The girls only go a half day and Kayden stays for a full day. Kayden is also the only student there who brings his own lunch, while everyone else just eats what the school prepares, but he has done so much adjusting right now I figure that I would give him some time to adjust to that.
I have been {somewhat} learning how to cook and the other night our friends we are staying with made spaghetti and the kids all loved it! Victories like that bring such JOY to this Mommy's heart!! Food I would say is the biggest struggle with the kids. I am finding things that they like though, and working with it.
We got to see our house yesterday! There is much work to be done with it, but we see a lot of potential and are very excited to start working on it! I cannot wait to put pictures up of the before and after. The kids kept running around saying how much the loved it and were so excited to move in.
Brian got to drive for the first time since us being here today! Exciting and scary! :) You drive on the opposite side of the road here, sitting in what would be the passenger seat in the States, plus we have to learn stick, which neither Brian or I have ever driven before, I wasn't with him, but heard he did a great job. You have to be very aggressive to drive here, especially in town. It is crazy! There are cars flying everywhere, and then just random people everywhere. One of our friends here told me it is like playing a video game. Very true!
Thank you all for your prayers and kind words and emails of encouragement. They have brought such joy and encouragement to our hearts! God has been working in my heart and teaching me to trust Him in ways I have never had to before. It is good, great even, but hurts some nonetheless.
There is such joy in knowing that we are walking out the specific call God has given our family. Be encouraged if you feel like God has placed a dream or a promise into your heart that you have not yet seen come to pass. I look over the last seven years and then close my eyes and hear the sounds and smell the smells of Africa, and am reminded that my God keeps His promises. I find such joy, hope, and peace in that. We have victory in Christ! I so desire to walk in that truth daily.
We got to see our house yesterday! There is much work to be done with it, but we see a lot of potential and are very excited to start working on it! I cannot wait to put pictures up of the before and after. The kids kept running around saying how much the loved it and were so excited to move in.
Brian got to drive for the first time since us being here today! Exciting and scary! :) You drive on the opposite side of the road here, sitting in what would be the passenger seat in the States, plus we have to learn stick, which neither Brian or I have ever driven before, I wasn't with him, but heard he did a great job. You have to be very aggressive to drive here, especially in town. It is crazy! There are cars flying everywhere, and then just random people everywhere. One of our friends here told me it is like playing a video game. Very true!
Thank you all for your prayers and kind words and emails of encouragement. They have brought such joy and encouragement to our hearts! God has been working in my heart and teaching me to trust Him in ways I have never had to before. It is good, great even, but hurts some nonetheless.
There is such joy in knowing that we are walking out the specific call God has given our family. Be encouraged if you feel like God has placed a dream or a promise into your heart that you have not yet seen come to pass. I look over the last seven years and then close my eyes and hear the sounds and smell the smells of Africa, and am reminded that my God keeps His promises. I find such joy, hope, and peace in that. We have victory in Christ! I so desire to walk in that truth daily.
Saturday, February 23, 2013
We are here!!
So I am thinking it was way too ambitious of me to tell people I was going to try to blog every day for the first year. I will, however, try to update at least once a week. If you aren't already a follower please become one! I love seeing who is reading my posts. So since my brain is a little overloaded right now I am just going to type what comes to my mind, and it may be out of order, so try to follow along. :)
Our trip getting here was so much better than I could have ever hoped! The kids did AMAZING! I am so proud of them. They have had so much change over these last few months and are just taking it in stride. Harper slept almost both 9 hour flights and then slept like a champ once we got to where we are staying in Africa. Harper did get sick twice on one plane ride with motion sickness and then when we landed in Tanzania, Sophee got sick from motion sickness as well. Other than that we had no issues and were so happy with how the kids behaved. At every single layover the Lord provided a man from each flight that offered to help us get our luggage to our next terminal. That may not seem like a big deal, but it was huge! We literally would not have been able to get from place to place without people helping us. Once again, He completely provided for us! Once we landed in Tanzania it took a while to get all of bins and luggage. Once we got everything we were some of the last people in the airport, which is not a good thing heading to customs. We got to customs and they wanted to look through most of our bins, and were questioning why we brought such and such things, and were talking about how much they were going to charge us. I just kept praying for the Holy Spirit to move and give us favor. It had been about 20 minutes and it did not look good. The head of customs asked Brian to head back to his office with him, which we had specifically been told not to do by one of our friends in Africa. Brian said that no he wasn't going to do that and could we please just go, we were very tired and needed to go with the kids. The guys with customs talked some more and then literally out of nowhere said that we were ok to go with all of our things. Brian and I both started crying with such joy and relief that the whole process was over. If they had charged us the "duty" they were talking about we could have been charged 100% of everything we had brought into TZ. Praise God we got through with favor!! Our friends were waiting for us once we got out from customs and they helped us load all our things up quickly, and we headed to our friends home where we will be staying the next few weeks while we work on getting our home ready to move in.
We have been transitioning a lot over the last there days. The first full day here was very hard for me and the kids, mostly Kayden. The kids did not want to eat anything at all the first day we were here, and I mean nothing. Brian and I spent some time that night praying with and talking with Kayden about the move, which seemed to help a lot. That night though they all got good sleep and the next day Kayden was back to his normal self and they all ate great. Today there a lot of sickies. Sophee threw up and the family we are staying with has three people throwing up. None of us are sure excactley what it is, but praying it passes quickly. Being sick is never fun, but being sick in this heat is definitely not fun! :) We went to the kid's new school yesterday and they all got to meet their teachers and see their classrooms. They loved it and will be starting school on Monday. Soph will even be starting preschool here, and she is thrilled!
We will be seeing our home either today or tomorrow for the first time, so we are very excited about that! We will be working on it the next few weeks before we move in. Some of the things we will be doing are painting, deep deep cleaning, knocking out some walls, and building shelves and such. We are so excited to make it our home and get settled. Mid April is when we head to language school in Arusha for three weeks, and once we are back from there that is when we are planning on moving in.
Overall I would say we are transitioning fairly well. It is definitely a little bit more overwhelming than I thought it would be. We have to learn a new language, learn a new way of driving, a new way of shopping, a new culture, beat off jet lag, and so on and so on. I am realizing that taking it day by day is what I am needing to do. It is too much to look even a couple days out. It brings so much peace and comfort looking over the past year and seeing/recognizing the mountains the God moved for us to be here, and knowing this is our new home. I am hourly praying for more joy and more patience to be the best Mom to my kids as they are transitioning as well, and the best wife I can be to my wonderful husband. We feel so blessed that this is the call we get to walk out and can't wait to love on the people here.
Prayer Request would be as follows
*for the kids to have victory of this jet lag. Last night they were all up from about 1-5 in the morning which is hard on Brian and I the next day.
*the kids starting school on Monday, that they would feel at peace and have an easy time making friends.
*supernatural joy, love, and peace for our entire family.
We love you all so much! Thanks for keeping up with and praying for our family!
Our trip getting here was so much better than I could have ever hoped! The kids did AMAZING! I am so proud of them. They have had so much change over these last few months and are just taking it in stride. Harper slept almost both 9 hour flights and then slept like a champ once we got to where we are staying in Africa. Harper did get sick twice on one plane ride with motion sickness and then when we landed in Tanzania, Sophee got sick from motion sickness as well. Other than that we had no issues and were so happy with how the kids behaved. At every single layover the Lord provided a man from each flight that offered to help us get our luggage to our next terminal. That may not seem like a big deal, but it was huge! We literally would not have been able to get from place to place without people helping us. Once again, He completely provided for us! Once we landed in Tanzania it took a while to get all of bins and luggage. Once we got everything we were some of the last people in the airport, which is not a good thing heading to customs. We got to customs and they wanted to look through most of our bins, and were questioning why we brought such and such things, and were talking about how much they were going to charge us. I just kept praying for the Holy Spirit to move and give us favor. It had been about 20 minutes and it did not look good. The head of customs asked Brian to head back to his office with him, which we had specifically been told not to do by one of our friends in Africa. Brian said that no he wasn't going to do that and could we please just go, we were very tired and needed to go with the kids. The guys with customs talked some more and then literally out of nowhere said that we were ok to go with all of our things. Brian and I both started crying with such joy and relief that the whole process was over. If they had charged us the "duty" they were talking about we could have been charged 100% of everything we had brought into TZ. Praise God we got through with favor!! Our friends were waiting for us once we got out from customs and they helped us load all our things up quickly, and we headed to our friends home where we will be staying the next few weeks while we work on getting our home ready to move in.
We have been transitioning a lot over the last there days. The first full day here was very hard for me and the kids, mostly Kayden. The kids did not want to eat anything at all the first day we were here, and I mean nothing. Brian and I spent some time that night praying with and talking with Kayden about the move, which seemed to help a lot. That night though they all got good sleep and the next day Kayden was back to his normal self and they all ate great. Today there a lot of sickies. Sophee threw up and the family we are staying with has three people throwing up. None of us are sure excactley what it is, but praying it passes quickly. Being sick is never fun, but being sick in this heat is definitely not fun! :) We went to the kid's new school yesterday and they all got to meet their teachers and see their classrooms. They loved it and will be starting school on Monday. Soph will even be starting preschool here, and she is thrilled!
We will be seeing our home either today or tomorrow for the first time, so we are very excited about that! We will be working on it the next few weeks before we move in. Some of the things we will be doing are painting, deep deep cleaning, knocking out some walls, and building shelves and such. We are so excited to make it our home and get settled. Mid April is when we head to language school in Arusha for three weeks, and once we are back from there that is when we are planning on moving in.
Overall I would say we are transitioning fairly well. It is definitely a little bit more overwhelming than I thought it would be. We have to learn a new language, learn a new way of driving, a new way of shopping, a new culture, beat off jet lag, and so on and so on. I am realizing that taking it day by day is what I am needing to do. It is too much to look even a couple days out. It brings so much peace and comfort looking over the past year and seeing/recognizing the mountains the God moved for us to be here, and knowing this is our new home. I am hourly praying for more joy and more patience to be the best Mom to my kids as they are transitioning as well, and the best wife I can be to my wonderful husband. We feel so blessed that this is the call we get to walk out and can't wait to love on the people here.
Prayer Request would be as follows
*for the kids to have victory of this jet lag. Last night they were all up from about 1-5 in the morning which is hard on Brian and I the next day.
*the kids starting school on Monday, that they would feel at peace and have an easy time making friends.
*supernatural joy, love, and peace for our entire family.
We love you all so much! Thanks for keeping up with and praying for our family!
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