Images On The Way... (A Little Photo Journal from Tanzania)

As promised, a few photos from our recent trip to the northern highlands of Tanzania... Click on any photo that you would like to see larger.

Early on the 22nd we came across 5 elephants in open land outside of the game parks. They were moving along slowly, probably heading to Lake Manyara. Seeing them was a good birthday gift for Byron. They had big tusks :-) This one didn't want his photo taken.


We stopped and bought yellow and red bananas. I later regretted not buying a hat for Trevor!


We sat on the rim of the famous Ngorongoro Crater and toasted Byron's 48th with cold sodas before driving on to Loliondo.


We spent one night at Andre's camp in Loita (and heard elephants trumpeting as they passed close to us in the night.) Thanks for the neat tent, Masons!


I always cry when we get to Loita. The kids grew up playing in this stream. Wouldn't you cry?


I took my morning bath in this shallow pool below Andre's camp. There are hot springs that feed this stream and the water wasn't cold at all.


This is our Maasai Mum, Ngoto Milai. She has been close to our family for 17 years.


I took this photo for Carly Jane. Car, this is the same tree we ate our breakfast under in July. You made us look up and close one eye so that our vision went two dimensional and we talked about how cool God is to make this lace.


Sometimes the kids ride on the roof for a while. A 360 degree view of Africa is a fine thing.


The mountain had just puffed out a cloud of smoke but I missed it. The light grey color down the right side is new lava flow since we camped here last summer.

Returning to Our Regular Program...

We're home after our week in the (beautiful) northern highlands of Tanzania. The nature of our trip was hard to describe. We have a dear friend who was/is dealing with a crisis and basically just needed us around. This friend does good work that we believe in. Byron did a lot of running around, helping to attend to things there. I'm glad we could go. It's good to ruck.

However, the most important thing about today is not that we are home. No, the really important thing is that it's Trevor's 18th birthday. Happy Birthday, way over there in California, Trev. We miss you!

I will not write more now. You have no idea how good my bed is looking after a week of sleeping on the ground or the floor :-)

I promise you nice photos soon.

We Interrupt This Program...

To say...

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Byron's Birthday! He's 48 today, Thursday, 22 November! I remember sitting in the DC at Westmont talking with him just a few days before he turned 21. I was really hoping he might start to like me :-)



We'll be on the road for a while now, making the long journey to the north of Tanzania. We are helping out with some stuff up there.

Should be back by next Wednesday the 28th. We'll see...

Happy trails!

Following on from Jenelle...

Inspired by The Nelly

I am a hoper and a dreamer

I am The Soup Queen

I am one who sings hymns (alone, very loudly in the kitchen)

I am convinced Jesus likes us more than we think

I am sure God enjoys a good friendship as much as I do

I am very strong and very weak

I am thinking that there are some things I'll never get done (but I'll try for them anyway)

I am aware of a lot of suffering

I am certain of reasons for joy

I am living with my eyes open

What are you? Psst, pass it on...

Pepi Has a Cute Face

This is Pepi, a 3 year old Jack Russell Terrier who has just moved in with us. He packed light, bringing only a bowl.

Pepi's owner is returning to the States after about 40 years in East Africa. Here's something wild: his owner and her husband built the very first house that Byron's family moved into in Kenya in 1964!!

This move must be quite difficult in so many ways for Pepi's friend. I suppose there are things that she does look forward to, though.

I hope that we can make it a little easier by providing a nice home for Pepi.

FYI: The Pepster has attached himself to Byron. After Byron left on the motorcycle this morning, Pepi stood at the gate and howled. I went out and told him that I'm nice too. I hope he believes me.

Heather's List

What a good day out!

We left the house at 5:45am and got home at 7:30pm. The big African sky above us was in constant shifting patterns as the clouds thickened and abated, thickened and abated throughout the day. The world below was draped in rich hues of greens and golds. The birds that traveled between flashed with colors too wild and iridescent to emulate.


This family was very happy to duck out of home school and office work to accommodate Bill and Tina's hope to visit the game park :-)

(Portrait of self by Heather)

So, here is Heather's list of animals that we saw:

1. Impala
2. Reed Buck
3. Water Buck
4. Elephant
5. Buffalo
6. Wildebeest
7. Silver Backed Jackal
8. Serval Cat
9. Vervet Monkey
10. Baboon
11. Dickdick
12. Kongoni
13. Mongoose (4 different kinds)
14. Tortoise
15. Giraffe
16. Zebra
17. Ostrich
18. Warthog
19. Bush Buck
20. Hyrax
21. Eland

(Mama and Baby taken by Heather)

Waves of Rain

It's late and I need to climb into bed. The rain has started up, making me wonder what our safari day will be like as we take visitors to the game park tomorrow.

The rain here comes in waves. It starts and I hear it on the roof as a low, steady rumble. But then it build and builds and oh, great big waves of rain come crashing, roaring over the house.

It makes the house so wonderful, all cozy and safe like an ark.

The smell of the rain is something I can't describe. I have always wished I could taste that smell.

Servanthood and Sweaty Feet

I come in from the shops and pour myself a big red plastic mug (which should have been put away with the camping stuff) full of water. My mouth, throat and insides feel better now but my feet are complaining. The soft, powdery dust of Africa works itself through my sandals like a fine talc but the result is not similar to a freshly powdered baby after his bath. No, the combination of heat, sweat, suede sandals and talcum-esque dust leaves my feet hot and slippery inside my shoes. Nope, I can't go on till I've balanced on one leg at a time and washed my feet in the sink in my bathroom.

This has me thinking about Jesus washing his disciples' feet.

I'm not planning to study this passage or dissect it or be at all academic and clever about it. I'm just musing. I'm not Mr. Barclay or Mr. Wright. I am Lisa: child-rearer, tea-maker, she who dances to The Monkees.

Jesus removed his outer garment and washed his friends feet more, we believe, to engage in an act of servanthood toward them, than simply to clean the sweat and dust from their feet. Mind you, their feet may well have needed the bath and maybe he was tired of the smell, which possibly gave him the idea. Who knows? But he bent low, took on the job of a servant, and dealt with their yuck.

Today we sometimes engage in foot washing in our communities of believers. We do it as a symbolic thing, a sign of serving each other. And it's a cool thing. Very cool.

But I was just wondering about this symbol out of its context. Jesus did it IN the context that it was a normal, every day service that servants performed. If you arrived at your friends house, their servant came and washed your feet because it was dusty and hot and you walked through the heat and dust to get there. It was an act of hospitality to make you more comfortable, in the same way that we say, "Can I get you something to drink?"

Only offering a person a drink doesn't require me to do anything potentially gross as an act of service for my visitor, does it? And washing someone's feet, (for the most part) is not the same in the neatly paved West as it was all those years ago.

So as I stood there washing my feet under the cool water, I wondered what would be a closer sign of servanthood that we could offer each other.

It's not our culture to all have servants so we do the lowly jobs ourselves, or have city workers who do them. My culturally adapted versions of foot washing include these:

Flossing teeth
Cleaning toilets
Sorting the trash for recycling
Taking the trash out and washing the rubbish bins afterwards

I wonder about Jesus showing up and setting about to clean our toilets or take out our trash. I picture him washing down the sides of the bins afterwards and then grinning at me as he puts them back in their places (recycle, compost, throw) in the kitchen.

It feels base and almost wrong to picture him that way.

Must have felt the same to his disciples.

(Pleasant) Pumpkin Soup (or Sharin' the Love)

And now, from those sweetly subversive, those gently outrageous Mennonites,
the recipe, (ta dah!) for Pumpkin Soup, (aka Goodness in a Pot.)

Melt in a heavy kettle: 2 T margarine or butter
Add: 1/4 c. chopped green pepper and one small onion, chopped
Saute until veggies are soft but not brown.

Blend in: 2 T flour and 1 t salt

Add:
2 cups chicken broth or stock
2 cups pumpkin puree
2 cups milk

Sprinkle in some thyme (1/8 t) and some parsley (1t)

Cook, stirring constantly, until thickened.

Recipe (minus the suggested nutmeg) taken from The More-With-Less-Cookbook, (suggestions by Mennonites on how to eat better and consume less of the world's limited food resources.)

Best with warm bread and toasty conversation.

(Bonus tip from Lisa: if you chopped and steamed a fresh pumpkin, use the water you drain off from the cooking and a chicken bouillon cube to make the stock.)

Question: Why did Lisa delete the nutmeg from the recipe? Answer: She didn't want her soup to taste like pumpkin pie.

Good Things I Liked from the Weekend

1. Bill and Tina (English by origin but residents of Portugal) arrived here on Friday night

2. The guest room was ready by the they got in (phew!)

3. Our friend, Rebecca, cried saying her vows to Patrick on Saturday

4. Patrick grinned like a crazy man throughout the entire reception

5. The last half hour of the reception turned into a spontaneous dance party that even the waiters and waitresses joined

6. I didn't break an ankle wearing heels

7. We spent long evenings on the verandah with friends

8. A Verreaux's Eagle Owl (one of the largest owls in the world) landed close by and watched us as we watched him during one of our evenings on the verandah

9. Tina reminded me why Rooibos tea is good for us and we dranks lots of cups of it

10. We ate homemade pumpkin soup with homemade whole wheat bread

Friends and Family

I love this photo taken by the-girl-with-the-camera, Alexa Wan.
I love it for the warmth and joy.

Trevor and Jesse are being wrapped in welcome hugs by Dane and Carly Uhler. They were arriving for their Thursday night family/church time.

There is something really deeply good about friendships that are so life-giving and so close-as-family. These friends have known each other for many years and have something together that was forged with blood, sweat and tears... Not to mention much laughter and many good times.

But there is something else that makes this photo precious to me. You could easily trade out the actual persons in it for the parents of these four. It could very easily be me and Byron being welcomed into hugs from Marty and Carey. We also have years of friendship, forged with hard work, shared joys and miseries, goals, dreams and good times. We have broken bread together and wondered together at the mysteries of God. Though they are in Europe and we are in Africa, our friendship is not un-like what the kids share. And the kids have made our friendship richer.

What a good thing when two generations of friends are family.

Africa is Good for Me

I'm back home after my medical-run to the big, bad city of Nairobi.

As the shuttle chugged through the traffic-choked streets, I found myself thinking about how much I don't like that town. But I had a little change of heart once I was on foot. Walking along the busy streets, I greeted street vendors and chatted with ladies running fruit stands. I noticed how pretty the trees looked in their blossomy veils, and how white the clouds were against the bright blue sky.

Yea, I think Africa is better when you're out of the car.

The lady at Nairobi Hospital (where both Trevor and Heather were born) who did the mammogram said something very interesting during our time together. The fibroid and cyst concerns that I have experienced in the past were not present.

"Those issues will have cleared up because you've moved back to Africa," she said.

I must have looked at her a little quizzically because she elaborated.

"You'll have left a lot of stress behind in the West. The stress and pace there make people eat chocolate and drink coffee to cope. Here, the stress and chocolates are less and so you've cleared up."

She's right, you know. It's not that life is easy in Africa. It is challenging in many ways on many levels and the issues that weigh upon this continent are huge, gnarly and complicated. But we don't keep a manic schedule and we eat simpler, cleaner, fresher foods.

I'm happy about that.

Photo by Jesse Borden

Long Day's Journey...

Today I catch the bus at 8am and travel 5 hours to Nairobi, Kenya. I will cross a border, spend hours on the road, be away from my family for 2 days and sleep in a foreign country just so I can have a normal check-up with the OB/Gyn. Brother!

I'll be back on Tuesday night. I'm mostly concerned about getting to the hospital in time today for a mammogram and then from my appointment tomorrow to the bus in time to get home (and the fact that I don't see how lunch will fit into tomorrow's schedule. You know how I get when I don't eat--Grumpola! I need to go pack snacks.)

On a happier note, Heather was at a costume party this last weekend and my singing in the car on Friday night inspired her :-)

Here's Pipi...

Church Happens

We were round at Per and Mirjam's tonight.

Let's see... I guess we were 8 adults and 8 kids. Accidentally, of course. No one planned it that way. That's who turned up. And the adults were aged mid 20's to mid 40's. The kids were 8-17.

We ate food and hung out. Then 2 guitars, 2 harmonicas, 2 saxophones and 3 djembes came out.

Not sure how to explain what happened next. I remember that we were goofing around and singing "What's love got to do, got to do with it?" And "I'll never fall in love a-g-a-i-n. Oh I'll never fall in love again!"

But it went from that kind of thing into songs that focused us on God. We worshipped.

All the while, everyone was very free. I liked seeing Colin (13) showing Sarah (9) how to play the djembe. I liked that Chase (15) was trying to follow Per on the sax.

I liked that Mirjam had her dog across her lap.

I liked that I lost my voice in the middle of everything because the dogs in the house set off my allergies and I got congested and clogged up.

For some years now, I have been accustomed to church being a family gathering with believers of all ages together to celebrate, most often in a living room or around someone's table. There is a simple focus on Jesus and on hearing from God.

Tonight was the closest thing to what my heart calls church that I have experienced in a long time here in Tanzania.

It put me in such a jolly mood that I sang all the way home in the car with my croaky lost voice just because I sounded so ridiculous. I sang the theme song to the Pippi Longstocking show that I used to watch in Sweden when I was little. Yea, I sang Pippi Longstocking in Swedish all the way home. My kids got a big kick out of that.

Believers gather. We focus on the One we believe in. Church happens.