Monthly Archives: March 2013

Um, Now What?

by Rachel

We drove to Dzalanyama Forest on our day off a couple weeks ago.  It’s a rough road, and we were thankful for a vehicle with 4-wheel drive and high clearance.  At a couple points after coming through swampy sections or small canyons we commented “hope we don’t have to turn around and go back through that…”  And then, shortly after one of those comments, we came to a road block:

truck fire jerry can on the road

 

There are several things about this situation (and picture) that make us laugh.  1) The truck that is very obviously in the way.  2) The fire, which is also in the way, as it’s about where our right wheels are supposed to go.  And 3) the jerry can of fuel sitting right next to the fire.  Thankfully the truck driver was willing to back up to a small clearing where we could squeeze around him.  That just left the fire and the jerry can.  With a little motioning, the jerry can was moved, but the fire was just left, so we hugged the left side of the road as closely as possible.  “Hope we don’t have to turn around and go back through that!”

Spitting Beetles

by Rachel

Last night when getting Abigail ready for bed, we noticed about 7 small blisters on her chest, just below the neckline.  She was acting completely normal, not itching them, not complaining, not even appearing to notice them.  We gave her some Benedryl and decided to see how they looked in the morning.

spitting beetle

 

By the morning (pictured above) a few of the smaller blisters had dried out, and the bigger ones looked better too.  Later in the morning, we saw in town a friend who has lived in the area almost her whole life.  She instantly diagnosed the work of a spitting beetle!  She said that only one of the various types of spitting beetles in the area spits strong acid, so apparently – based on Abi’s mild response – she only encountered a mild variety.  Thank the Lord!

Around Our House… The Other Day

by Rachel

We’re a bit busy around our house these days… which would explain why the post entitled “Around Our House Today” didn’t get written for a couple days and so didn’t qualify as “today” any more.   =)  But like we said, we’re busy, so late is better than never! 

Here are a few of the things going on around our house right now…

Around the House01

Ladies’ Bible Study meets at our house every Tuesday morning.  We’ve averaged about 8-9 ladies every week, and we’re still enjoying the study through the Bible one book a week.  We just finished Psalms, and are on to Proverbs next week!

Around the House04

As 2 1/2 year olds, these three little ladies make our house a busy place!  (Yes, they were all born within a couple months of each other!) The Ayres family has been living with us for about 2 1/2 weeks, and Moriah Ayres is fitting right in!  Abi is, of course, enjoying playing host and general rabble-rouser.  And Rejoice, our housekeeper’s daughter, looks sweet and innocent, but she’s right in the mischief with Abi!

Around the House06

It’s rainy season, so the grass is green, the gutters are flowing, and the ferns, palms, ginger, and heliconia are lush and happy.

Around the House02

The grenadilla are happy too.  We’re picking fruit off the vines almost daily and enjoying grenadilla lemonade.

Around the House03

You know the people who collect spare cars in their front yard?  I feel like we do that with laundry appliances.  No really, there’s an explanation for the 3 dryers and 2 washers on our back porch.  2 dryers and 1 washer are broken.  And the one washer that does work isn’t ours – it’s the Ayres.  The guys mistakenly brought it over to our house when the container was unpacked.  We do have a new washer that came on the Ayres’ container, so it will come, the Ayres’ washer will go, an old dryer will go to be fixed, and then… somehow we’ll still have 5 appliances on our porch.  We are those people.  At least it’s not cars…

Around the House05

Titus (4) and Caleb (6) Ayres jumped right into school the week after they arrived.  School starts at 7:15, so they are up early every day!  And then they come home just before 1pm to work on homework – these guys are busy learning and making friends!

Around the House09

Matt and Abi had a special father/daughter project morning.  It was a bring-your-own-toolkit kind of event.  They were blocking up holes under our gate and in our drains, because…

Around the House10

We got a puppy!  The Ayres got one too, so it’s puppy town around here now!  Samson is our new little guy, and he looks very much like his dad, Simba, did when we first got him!  Simba’s a little jealous of all the attention everyone’s giving his kids.

Around the House07

Mac and Cheese night.  With all the kids in the house, we’ve eaten a few more kid-friendly foods lately.  The big kids didn’t seem to mind either.

Around the House08

And we still get our regular, and not so regular, power outages.  Here Bethany’s looking over Jim’s shoulder to see pictures of light fixtures he found in town during the day.  Those two are spending a good part of each day, and several hours each night, working on plans and changes for their house.  It’s coming together, and I know they’re all eager to open all the boxes that came on their container and make that house their home!