MozamWeek

I have a hard time keeping up the pace of "real" work when my kids are home from school. This past week was their half-term break. This coincided with the national elections in Mozambique, so there was plenty of reason to leave paperwork behind and find something else to do together. I have a good friend here in Tete who is blessed with a Mennonite background (like mine) and an air-conditioned kitchen (unlike mine). So when I got a text asking if I wanted to "do donuts" during half-term break, I knew it would be a great chance for some healthy mom-and-kid activity. (In my childhood dialect of northern Indiana, "doing donuts" can refer to "cutting kitties" -- spinning cars around on icy parking lots or the like.) She suggested  this recipe  which she has used in the past. I've not made donuts since I was a little girl in Indiana, as far as I can remember. At least not any that were as memorable as grandma's. Here is my photo documentat...

My friend Gigi takes amazing pictures. She has lived in Tete for about 3 years or so. When she came, she said she wanted to find beauty wherever she was. I said, "Good luck, you are in Tete now!" She has shown me the beauty of the place around me and I look at my African home differently. I want to thank Gigi for showing so many of us here in this dry, dusty place where the beauty is. Her blog is  SnappingAfrica . Have a look. It is a wonderful glimpse of life here in Tete! Baobab It towers over everything around it. It looks dead. Waiting for the two months of rain during the hottest part of the year. For just a fraction of the year there is respite. Otherwise, wait. Still. You can't tell it is alive until it buds and blossoms and produces fruit. Those seemingly dead branches give fruit every year. The baobab stands in God's stillness and waits for the blessing of rain. Through the burning sun and the drought with no sign of help. It knows. God is here. In hi...

On the way out of England, we sat at the Heathrow Airport gate drinking coffee and nibbling leftovers that I thought suitable for breakfast - raisins and dried cranberries, leftover cereal crumbles and nuts and a handful of chocolate chips. Finally, there were 3 fortune cookies dumped in that Ziploc bag. I opened mine:  "You will succeed because you are not easily impressed." I didn't quite know what to think about that, but it stuck in my head. Maybe that was a fitting note for my departure from England. I think I owe the country an apology. I was a prejudiced little American snob about England. I didn't think it could really be that special. I know, many of my compatriots think England is an epitome of culture and beauty. They think the English do things "right"... even if upon closer examination, we find some things to be just plain "un-American"! I thought the houses would be drafty and somewhat lacking in modernity and that the weather would...

We have landed. Again. This time on an island not far away at all. We are fairly near our last hop... only one time zone changed. We didn't have to change our language this time. We change our spell-checker version to blend in on paper. We taxied out in snow and slush. Freezing weather and Pakistani driver. Five extra large, brand new suitcases found a new home. The next day, the sun came out.  It snowed. Rolling the heavy stuff into body, heart and head took muscle. Two boys huffed and puffed their men together. Green tracks in the formerly unblemished blanket of white.  Very green for mid-winter. New schools. New friends. New challenges. New ideas. New... New... New... So glad that He who makes all things new is the same always. So glad He who knows all things knew this day always, too. So glad... for green in mid-winter and sunshine in snow and heart and soul and five suitcases that hopped here together.  Nothing new about that! So glad! ...

I've been waiting for June all year long! This is the month of potential "winter" weather. Tonight, my toes are chilly for the first time since I was in Cape Town back in December! Only a person raised in the NORTH and living in an extremely tropical area (at low altitude) can really understand our craving for cool weather. We glow with glee when the thermometer drops below 80F/28C... Tonight it is even lower than that after a sprinkling of rain. I had a cup of tea in the middle of the day! But this year June brings another joy... we are going 'HOME'! Our three-and-a-half year term is coming to an end. We have booked our tickets and are packing and finishing and selling and giving away. Everything in the house is categorized: give away, throw away, sell, ship, save, maybe. The "maybe" category is hacked away by necessity. The "keep in Tete storage" is an easy default. "Give away" becomes easier as the days go on... the burden of ...

Tiny bananas make us smile a tiny bit. Christmas in Tete 2010 Some very random pictures of a side to my life that I usually don't publicize. Here is the story behind the story from the past few years. Hot Christmas. Interesting acquaintances. Food. Bugs. This is some of the good, the bad and the ugly of a missionary family in Tete! Christmas beetle- small, fuzzy and really red!  I can't get my husband to wear shirts at home, so I don't post pics of him very often I gave these guys Nyungwe Bible story books when I was visiting the immigration office. Then I found out they are Sena speakers! Interesting company. I meet people from many walks of life. I think Jesus would love to hang out with these ladies too! When we moved into this house the yard was depressing and bare. We didn't want you to feel sorry for us though! Many man-hours to plant grass in the depressing yard... it makes a difference! Nectarines are such a ...

When Tete is cloudy we smile... When I arrived from my week-long committee meetings in Pretoria, South Africa, the pilot announced 37C/98F as the temperature in Tete. Since I'm used to thinking that 38C is hot; I was immediately thunked into reality when I exited the plane: 37C is hot, too! I couldn't help but smile. The feeling of pervading warmth is not completely unpleasant. There is some degree of wonder in the whole experience. You are embraced with a kind of cushion of heat. You breathe in air that is the same temperature as the breath you exhale. A breeze doesn't cool you, but is just the same temperature as your sweat... which you don't really feel because it actually body temperature. When the novelty wears off, you just want to move out of this feeling of unity with the air around you. But, alas, there is no where to go... That was on Friday afternoon around 3pm. On Saturday morning we awoke to surprising showers of blessing. Dripping blending with bi...

I put my oven thermometer in the car window to see if I can bake a cake. I guess not. At least I don't have a recipe for a cake you bake at 200F/95C. Pretty impressive temperature though. Maybe if the windows weren't tinted? Anyway, I'm glad I don't have to sit on the dash to drive! Have a happy day wherever you are.

As Tete heats up this year, I'm making a commitment NOT to complain about the weather. It gets really hot. It is really dusty. I mean DUSTY- you've NEVER seen dust like this! There is red dust and gray dust... and now, with the coal mines, black dust is coming, I'm sure. But, I'm not going to complain this year! I have decided to recognize the uniqueness of the weather in Tete. I will marvel at the creativity that God has in putting together this world. I will try to notice the good things. I will sweat and wait for the breeze to blow and cool my skin by a few degrees for a few seconds. I will try to embrace the local pace that conserves what little energy you have after living in heat for about 20 hours a day! I will be thankful that we have air-conditioners in two bedrooms. I will be thankful that our neighbors upstairs block lots of the heat even though, down here, we get the dust. I will be thankful that I can know the people who were born here and call this pla...