Antes e Depois (Before and After)

So we had a regular door on our house, but it gets pretty hot in these parts and we mostly left that door open to keep some air moving.  As you can imagine, the house was full of flies and mosquitos. Gross. Thankfully, it is Shawn style to take matters in to his own hands. Just a little DIY project Mozambican style.

Here is the door before. We used the door that had been in the "office" but we took it off earlier because it was mostly in the way.

Glamour shot of Shawn sawing through a solid mahogany door.

As a life-long member of Team Eskola I know that "Doing It Is Doing It." I also have a pretty strong resume in hand tools. Then to make it even better, Shawn asked for my help by saying, "Hey, do you want a workout?" Yes, please. 

The finished project. We are soon to post this on Pinterest.

And now, just a few random photos from the week.

This is Luci and Asher playing in what I think is a place formerly used to wash clothes. Now it is used to "store" old toilet parts. They made a fort using said parts, but I wisely did not take a picture of that because it most likely could and would be used against me. 

You might think that this is just a picture of a dirt pile. And you would be right except that it is the 7th dirt pile I had swept up that day. We probably sweep 10x a day and each pile is like this. The window are only screens, the sand is everywhere, and the wind blows constantly. 

Luciana sporting the local 'do. 

And Judah as a Super Hero. It's hard to see in this picture, but he has a screen belt that is holding his beloved Swiss Army knife and a later, post-photo op addition was a cape. 

Multo Fotos (Many Photos)

 A little breakfast of bread and Nutella. So messy and sooooo delicious.

This was supposed to be a video of Luciana squealing with delight, "It's tickling me!" It was a millipede.

 Judah homeschooling.

Luciana learning how to read with Katia and Filito. More importantly, check out that amazing and HUGE coffee cup. It is full of Starbucks Via and sometimes it seems too small :)

 Luciana just can't help herself.

Tub Time! I never call them clean; just less dirty and wet.

 Making it work. It's a glamorous life here on the edge of the world.

That's right. I'm drying out Ziploc bags to reuse them. Super Target is a looooong way away.

It's all day every day in the dirt.

Luci was getting every last bit of the organic olives sent from the States. Here she is enjoying a bowl full of the juice.

Tudo Bom (Everything is Good)

Ahhh, the first post from the comfort of my mosquito net in Pemba. This might not be one of my most well thought out posts, but there’s a good chance it’s not the least either. It’s been just over a week since we arrived here and we took the first few days to get settled. We unpacked, did a town run for the essentials: fans, electric water kettle, bananas, a fuse for a power converter, etc., did a quick accounting of the Starbucks Vias, and by Monday, Shawn already had meetings scheduled and it was time for the kids to finally have their first day of school. I have a great picture of Luciana working on her reading with a few of our new neighborhood friends hovering around. But I haven’t convinced the internet to let me upload pictures yet. I’m working on it.

This has been an exciting week for IRIS Relief here in Pemba, too. In August, we invited Francois Batalingaya the country director of Somalia for World Vision to come and do some sessions at the Harvest School on disaster relief. He has been in the relief field for nearly 20 years and is a wealth of knowledge. It was a great opportunity for the Harvest School students to get to hear him, but even more for IRIS Relief.  We are babies in the disaster relief business and to have him share from him experience is priceless. Shawn got to take him out for dinner one night with another IR friend and they spent the evening telling stories and drinking coffee. I would have gone, too, but I had a Mozambican baby shower to attend.

The kids are having no trouble adjusting (only sometimes fussing about rice & beans) and they already have 3 friends who live around us – I’m not sure where, but it must be close because they’re always showing up. There is Filito, (4 or 5) Orlanda (maybe 6), and Katia (3ish).  Luci and Katia met the first morning and became fast friends. I often hearing Katia yelling, “Amiga! Amiga!” at Luci who is clueless as to what that means. She’ll catch on J

It’s only been one week and there is still so much to tell. This is definitely an adventure. 

Bitte, Meh Chas (Please, More Cheese)

We've spent the last four days in Switzerland trying to overcome jet lag. We used age old remedies of hiking in the Alps, riding trains, touring the capital city, and eating lots of cheese. And since we still had more time, we milked some cows, fed the pigs, carried kittens around, and jumped on a trampoline. Judah also lost his first tooth in the shadow of the Eiger, Luciana made a Swiss friend, Juli, and Asher slept on the bar of a restaurant next to brown bear enclosure. 

The next leg of the journey will be a 24 hour stay in Nairobi, Kenya and then on to our final destination: Pemba, Mozambique. One last hot shower and then we settle in for life in the red dirt. Go big, or go home - right?

Adios.

Just one last look. See you in March, knees.

This Will Only Pinch a Little

Here is Luci (yes, that is a Minnie Mouse dress she's wearing) at the Travel Clinic waiting for Shot-a-palooza.

Then she reconsidered. "Take a sad face picture."

He-He-Whoooo. He-He-Whoooo.

I have given birth to three children and one of the things I remember most of the actual birthing part is how much it hurt and how much I wanted to quit. Also the miracle of new life, of course! Who could forget that? For instance, my solution to the pain of Judah's delivery was to crab-walk off the back of the labor bed while Shawn and a stout nurse had to help me commit to finishing the job at hand.  I can see that it seems irrational now, but in the moment, I was a genius! And now I find myself in a similar situation. The pain is less physical, but my solutions are just as genius. This is the part of our journey to Mozambique that feels like "transition" in delivery. We are at the no-turning back point; tickets are purchased, good-byes are being said, and someone is setting up bunk beds for us in Pemba. This baby is happening! But all of the last-minute details are piling up and they have become quite the pile and I just found out we won't have a place to cook food when we get there and travel health insurance is not quite the bargain price it used to be and we're told a 6 month visa is a loooooong shot. I'm sure everything would be so much better if I just crawled out of here backwards. Or could get an epidural. But, I know it's time to take a deep breath and bear down. Soon enough all of our clothes will be packed (the latest in missionary wear), all auto-payments will be scheduled, and we get to see what we are made of. It has already been quite a ride and we're just getting to the wild part. Plus, I have learned my own lesson: Giving birth is really hard, but I was rewarded with the 3 most wonderful kids ever. Getting to Mozambique will be just as worth it. And messy.